University Students Protesting Forced Hijab Beaten, Arrested

In the early hours of June 17, special forces and plainclothes security personnel assaulted students protesting mandatory headscarf rules outside the campus of Tehran Art University and detained 10 of them. 

The detained students, who included both men and women, were taken away in an unmarked van. 

The Iranian Student Union issued a statement on June 18 announcing the release of most of those detained. 

In separate statements, student associations across the country condemned the violent arrests and denounced the threats issued by university authorities.

Students at Tehran Art University had been holding sit-ins since June 14, after security and administration officials of the university announced that  "headscarves will be mandatory starting from June 17."

A former university professor who wishes to remain anonymous told IranWire that “some students have been stopped and interrogated by security forces even at Imam Khomeini subway station." 

Arrests were made under the pretext that the students were recording films with their mobile phones, the ex-professor said, adding: “Officers seized students holding mobile phones and forcibly placed them into vans." 

Reports received by IranWire indicate that the arrests involved beatings and other forms of violence. 

The former professor confirmed that many students suffered scratches and injuries on their bodies: "One girl, originally from another city and residing in the dormitory, suffered a nervous breakdown after resisting the interrogators' questions…Another girl was terrified after leaving the interrogation building and became disoriented. She could not find her way back to the dormitory or the university." 

Some of the arrested students revealed that during their interrogations, security agents attempted to coerce confessions. 

An informed source told IranWire that university officials have threatened to use brutal force against protesters.