A taekwondo athlete was detained in Iran after being seen training without wearing the compulsory hijab.
Hanieh Shariati Roudposhti, a martial arts coach and gymnastics instructor, was captured by Iranian security forces in Tehran on Sunday night after performing in the street and posting videos of herself on social media without a headscarf.
The Norway-based Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights revealed authorities took Roudposhti to an undisclosed location and that her whereabouts remained unknown for over 24 hours.
Hengaw also explained that since Roudposhti’s arrest, her social media accounts – including an Instagram page with around 160,000 followers – have been taken over by security officials and later disabled, displaying a message linked to Iran’s cyber police.
A source close to her family reported that the arrest was justified as ‘failing to observe public dress codes during a public performance.’
On Tuesday, the athlete was reportedly temporarily released, according to sources who spoke to Iran International.
Roudposhti appeared in a video on Instagram on Tuesday wearing a hijab, telling viewers she had been home since Monday and that several of her social media posts had been deemed ‘inappropriate’ by judicial authorities.
Sources told the independent TV network that her release came with tight restrictions imposed by Iranian security agencies.
Hanieh Shariati Roudposhti, a martial arts coach and gymnastics instructor, was captured by Iranian security forces in Tehran on Sunday night after performing in the street and posting videos of herself on social media without a headscarf
A source close to her family reported that the arrest was justified as ‘failing to observe public dress codes during a public performance’
Sources told the independent TV network that her release came with tight restrictions imposed by Iranian security agencies
One source revealed that agents filmed her after her release and instructed her to remain at home and not return to work. The source added that the video was released to ‘counter media coverage and create the impression that she had not been arrested.’
In recent weeks, senior Iranian officials have repeated calls for stricter enforcement of hijab laws.
Iran’s Prosecutor-General Mohammed Movahedi-Azad said on Monday that observing Islamic dress codes was a religious duty that prosecutors were obliged to act firmly against non-compliance.
Earlier this month, the provincial judiciary chief of Esfahan, a city in central Iran, also urged legal action against what he described as ‘immodest public behaviour’.
It comes after a crowd of Iranian woman last month bravely defied Iran’s compulsory hijab ruling as they cheered and danced to rock music at a street party in Tehran.
Footage filmed at the outdoor gig in October, in the Iranshahr neighbourhood, shows numerous unveiled women nodding along as a band played ‘Seven Nation Army’ by The White Stripes.
The clip quickly went viral on social media, with many commentating on the crowd’s bravery amid laws mandating the covering of women’s bodies – violations of which can lead to violence or arrest.
Western music has also been censored in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, when popular music was outlawed by Ayatollah Khomeini.
Under his new laws, people caught with music deemed ‘un-Islamic’ would be fined, imprisoned, or face violence from the state.
While some music events have since been allowed in the country, it must all be approved by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
And in September 2022, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody after being arrested for allegedly violating rules requiring women to wear the headscarf.
She fell into a coma and died after witness reports suggested she was beaten by police officers on the way to jail, claims that the authorities denied.
The death of the Kurdish-Iranian woman sparked a furious nationwide protest movement in Iran led by women and girls.
According to Human Rights Watch, more than 500 people, including 68 children, were killed by security forces during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests that swept the country, while 20,000 were arrested.
