“Tabriz Girl” Who Yelled Anti-Khamenei Slogans Held in Mental Hospital

A 31-year-old Iranian woman was taken to a mental hospital in the northwestern city of Tabriz after a video of her yelling "death to the dictator” went viral on social media, a human rights group says.

According to the Norway-based Hengaw group, Roya Zakeri was transferred to the women’s ward of Razi Psychiatric Hospital amid state media reports claiming she was suffering from "mental disorder." 

Zakeri’s current condition is unknown. She has been placed under strict security measures and is not allowed to receive visits.

بر طبق اطلاعاتی که به دست هه‌نگاو رسیده است، #رویا_ذاکری هویت دختر جوانی که روز یک‌شنبه ۲۳ مهرماه توسط نیروهای امنیتی بازداشت شده است.

گزارش تکمیلی توسط هه‌نگاو منتشر خواهد شد#دختر_تبریز pic.twitter.com/226vYfpJjM

— Hengaw Organization for Human Rights (@HengawO) October 19, 2023

Transferring critics of the Islamic Republic and political prisoners to psychiatric hospitals is a common method used by the Iranian authorities to suppress dissent. 

A video clip, titled “Tabriz Girl,” emerged on October 15 showing a young woman on the ground, crying, and shouting “death to Khamenei” and “death to the dictator,” in reference to the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The next day, government-affiliated media reported that a young woman was taken to a psychiatric hospital after "concerned citizens" had contacted police.

"Emergency agents and police officers promptly arrived at the scene, where they found a distressed woman in a delirious state," the semi-official ISNA news agency said in a report titled "Misuse of Tabrizi Girl's Mental Health by Enemy Media." 

The report alleged that the woman had a “history of mental illness.”

"Some media outlets acted unethically by exploiting her mental health condition," ISNA claimed.

According to some reports, the woman had been harassed by hijab enforcement officers.

The woman’s identity was disclosed by activists on October 19. Zakeri holds a degree in computer science.

During nationwide protests in October 2022, she was arrested in front of Tabriz University and held in the city’s central prison for one month.