On November 3, 2024, Iranian security forces forcibly arrested Ahoo Bahari (also written Ahoo Daryaei), a student in the science and research department at Islamic Azad University. The arrest occurred after members of the Basij, a volunteer paramilitary force that is part of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, assaulted her on campus for not wearing the mandated headscarf.
In April 2024, Iran’s government launched more stringent regulations mandating that women cover their heads with a hijab while in public. To enforce the regulations, the government also increased the presence of police forces, members of the Basij, and plainclothes officers in public faces, such as universities.
According to a student witness, on November 3, two university security officers grabbed Bahari after they saw her without the required hijab. The officers began to beat her and pulled her by her clothing towards a security post near the university’s entrance, ripping her top in the process. Bahari responded by screaming “shameless” and stripping off her clothing. Photos posted online show her sitting on a ledge wearing only her underwear.
As Bahari left the university and walked down the street, plainclothes police officers stopped next to her in a car. They grabbed her and forced her into the vehicle. According to witnesses, Bahari’s head hit the car in the process, causing a head wound. A video posted online show several people wrestling Bahari into the vehicle.
Following her arrest, Islamic Azad University and Iranian state media sought to discredit Bahari, announcing that she had a “mental disorder” and that she was being taken to a facility for treatment. Iranian authorities released Bahari after about two weeks without bringing charges against her. A spokesperson for the judiciary announced that she had been treated and returned to her family. According to rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, the government often uses the pretext of “mental disorders” to justify its crackdown on dissenters.
Scholars at Risk is concerned about university security forces assaulting a student peacefully exercising her right to freedom of expression – conduct which is protected by international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory – and about the violent arrest and detention of that student. In addition to the harm to the immediate victims, such incidents have a chilling effect on academic freedom and harms related higher education values including autonomy and social responsibility.
Sources:
*SAR identified this incident in data made publicly available by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202411025012
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/11/15/iran-woman-underwear-arrest/
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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy42vxd99po