A female student in Iran has been detained following a solitary protest in which she stripped to her underwear outside Tehran Azad University of Science and Research. Reports reveal that the woman, whose identity remains undisclosed, was initially harassed by members of the Basij militia who forcibly removed her headscarf and clothing within the university premises.

In a bold act of defiance, the student removed her remaining clothes and sat outside the university in her underwear before walking through the streets, surprising onlookers. Videos of the incident, shared on social media by the Amir Kabir newsletter, among other Persian-language outlets, show the woman before she was taken into custody by plainclothes officers and driven to an unknown location.

Iran's strict dress code mandates that women wear headscarves and loose-fitting attire in public. The footage of the protest, which appeared to have been captured by observers from a nearby building, also showed her being forcefully bundled into a car. Critics allege that she was beaten during her arrest, an assertion made by the Amir Kabir newsletter.

The conservative Fars news agency confirmed the occurrence, including a heavily blurred photo of the student. According to Fars, the student was warned about her "inappropriate clothes" and subsequently "stripped" after security guards prompted her to adhere to the dress code. The agency cited witnesses who claimed guards interacted "calmly" with the student, contradicting reports of aggressive actions.

This incident follows the significant women-led protests in 2022, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman detained for a supposed dress code violation. Those protests witnessed women breaking strict conventions by removing and burning their headscarves, ultimately facing a severe crackdown that resulted in 551 deaths and thousands of arrests.