A young Iranian woman who was detained for stripping down to underwear to mark a protest may have been tortured, given electric shocks and beaten by authorities, human rights organisations have warned. The woman, whose identity remains unknown to date, was earlier transferred to a psychiatric hospital. Now Amnesty International (AI) has claimed it has evidence that Iranian officials subjected the woman to torture and even chemical substances.
Earlier, the authorities labelled her ‘mentally unstable’ and transferred her to a psychiatric institution. Amnesty said the woman was faced with an “alarming situation.”
The woman became an internet sensation in Iran overnight after a video showing her roaming around in Tehran University campus in her underwear went viral. She was reportedly protesting harassment by campus security guards over an alleged violation of the strict dress code imposed on women in the Shi’ite nation.
Earlier, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) called her arrest by Iranian authorities a “kidnapping” and highlighted the trend in the country to transfer political opponents and protesters to mental health centres to muzzle their voices.
Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of CHRI, was quoted as saying by the Guardian, “Iranian authorities systematically use involuntary psychiatric hospitalisation as a tool to suppress dissent, branding protesters as mentally unstable to undermine their credibility.”
“Transferring individuals who participate in peaceful protests to psychiatric hospitals represents not only an act of arbitrary detention but also constitutes a form of kidnapping. This practice is a blatantly unlawful move to discredit activists by labelling them mentally unstable,” he added.
Notably, Iranian authorities in 2022 had transferred Saman Yasin, a well-known Kurdish rapper, to a mental health facility following her detention over protests. He was released on medical furlough last month after spending nearly two years in prison.
“Saman was tied to the bed in the psychiatric centre in a cruciform position for a long time. They administered high-dose sedatives and despite his unconscious state, the restraints on his hands and feet were not removed,” The Guardian quoted a source close to the Kurdish rapper as saying.
(With inputs from agencies)