On May 26, 2024, Iranian Guidance Patrol police forces–also known as the “morality police”–forcibly detained nearly 100 female students for “not observing the religious hijab” on the Velayat campus of the Islamic Azad University.
According to reports, two white vans along with numerous police officers with batons and guns forcibly arrested the female students. They were released after signing a commitment letter promising to adhere to hijab rules.
These arrests occurred in the context of the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement that spread across Iran, including at universities, after the September 2022 death of Mahsa Jina Amini while in custody of the so-called “morality police.” Police and security forces responded to the protests with violence, arrests, and enforcing women wear hijabs under the ‘Noor’ program. The United Nations Human Rights Commission has stated that since April 2024, Iranian authorities have “increased repressive measures and policies [against women’ through the so-called ‘Noor’ Plan (noor meaning “light” in Persian), encouraging, sanctioning and endorsing human rights violations against women and girls flouting the mandatory hijab.”
Scholars at Risk is concerned about violence by state security forces and the arrest of students in apparent retaliation for the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and assembly—conduct that is expressly protected by international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the Islamic Republic of Iran is a party. In addition to the harm to the immediate victim, such incidents have a chilling effect on academic freedom and undermine democratic society generally.
Sources:
*SAR identified this incident in data made publicly available by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
https://x.com/IranIntl_En/status/1794759751009771862
https://x.com/autnews_org/status/1795412360833974406
https://www.en-hrana.org/widespread-arrests-at-islamic-azad-university-central-tehran-for-alleged-hijab-non-compliance/
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/09/iran-intensifying-efforts-repress-women-and-girls-second-anniversary-nation