A female student protesting against harassment by Iran’s paramilitary Basij militia for not wearing the hijab was abducted by Iranian security forces in Tehran yesterday at noon. After a member of the Basij allegedly assaulted her, attempting to tear off her clothes, the student began to protest by stripping down to her underwear and walking around the Islamic Azad University’s Science and Research Branch. Four security officers then forcibly dragged her into a car, where she was visibly bleeding, before allegedly taking her to Tehran Psychiatric Hospital.
The incident was first reported by Amirkabir Newsletter, a platform focused on political and human rights abuses in Iran. According to their reports, the student, allegedly identified as Ahou Daryaei, a 7th-semester French language major at the university, had faced ongoing harassment by the Basij over her refusal to wear the hijab. In defiance, she began her protest, which led to her forced abduction by Intelligence Branch members of the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC).
Further information is expected in the coming days, as reactions build both within Iran and internationally. The abduction echoes the global outcry following the 2022 killing of Jina (Mahsa) Amini by Iranian authorities, which sparked months of protests. This year, on the anniversary of her death, solidarity protests across Iran and worldwide reaffirmed support for Iranian women’s rights and the call for “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî” (Woman, Life, Freedom).
