Iranian University Students Protest Forced Hijab

Female students at multiple Iranian universities protested mandatory hijab rules as the authorities continued to harass and suppress women who flout the Islamic Republic’s dress codes.

Images published on social media show female students at Tehran University’s Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences staging a sit-in on April 16. The protesters held placards with slogans such as "No headscarves, no headscarves, freedom and equality."

The Telegram channel of Iran's Student Union Councils shared videos showing students from the university’s Faculty of Social Sciences gathered in protest against forced hijab and a wave of poisonings that has sickened thousands of schoolgirls and female university students over the past months. 

The students chanted slogans including "Woman. Life. Freedom" and "I swear to the blood of my friends, we are standing up.”

Similar protests were held in Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran.

On April 15, a protesting student at Yazd University was summoned by the disciplinary committee, was insulted by the university's president and received a two-year suspension from education, the telegram channel of the Student Union Councils reported.

🎥 دانشجویان دانشکده علوم اجتماعی دانشگاه تهران اقدام به برگزاری تجمع اعتراضی کرده و شعارهای «مهسای ما، نیکای ما، ندای آزادی ما» و «آزادی، آزادی» سر دادند. ۲۷ فروردین#مهسا_امینی #اعتراضات_سراسری #شهروندخبرنگار pic.twitter.com/5KSlkuTMb6

— ایران وایر (@iranwire) April 16, 2023

An ambulance was called to check the condition of the student, Zahra Rahimi, after she felt unwell.

All women in Iran must conceal their hair with a headscarf and wear loose fitting trousers under their coats while in public.

But a growing number of women have appeared in public without a hijab since a young woman died in police custody in September 2022, triggering nationwide protests demanding more freedoms and women’s rights. Amini had been arrested for allegedly wearing a headscarf improperly.

Some defiant women were arrested or summoned by the authorities, while many businesses were shut down due to the failure of owners or managers to observe hijab rules.

The judiciary claimed last week that according to the Islamic Penal Code, "removing the hijab in public is a “crime." And police chief Ahmadreza Radan warned that starting on April 15, anyone violating hijab laws in public places, cars and commercial establishments will be prosecuted.