Iranian University Ban: Women's Stand Against Mandatory Hijab

Submitted by on

Female university students were barred from universities in Iran after refusing to follow the country’s mandatory hijab laws. This resulted in sham disciplinary “hearings,” class suspensions, and threats of being given zero grades.

Around 60 female university students have already been suspended and barred from their universities for refusing to obey the Islamic Republic’s mandatory hijab laws and supporting the ongoing revolution that sparked after the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022.

Videos circulated on social media showed disciplinary committees and pro-government civilians harassing women and girls in streets, university campuses, and subway stations. Female university students defied this harassment by uploading clips of themselves not wearing a headscarf on social media.

Arrests and imprisonment of young women continuously rise in Iran. Many have been warned of serious consequences if they fail to adhere to the country’s mandatory hijab law. Many female university students have also suffered due to their defiance of the Islamic Republic and its suppression of the revolution.

“We’re being mass banned from the campus for refusing to wear a hijab, and in the past few days, there has been a violent crackdown on us for peacefully sitting in protest,” a female university student said, adding that Iranian security officials “violently threw us out of the classrooms.”

The student also said university professors who supported them and the revolution were attacked and subsequently banned from campus. The students’ councils of different universities across Iran estimate that around 40 female university students were “conditionally suspended” for failing “to fully observe” the mandatory hijab rules in Iran. But The Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI) said that at least 64 female students had been suspended, and three were expelled.

“I have been slapped with repeated temporary suspensions for protesting on the 40th day of Mahsa Amini’s death. Considering that I will be suspended again next semester, I will fall behind a whole year. I dream of studying abroad, but unfortunately, given the current situation, my future is dark,” said another student, this time from the northeastern city of Mashhad.

Dormitories were also not spared from the violent raids of university security teams and Iranian security forces. Students who shared posts on social media supporting the revolution and those sentenced to death were kicked out. They also said university administrators warned them that their course grades would be marked as zero if they failed to apologize and retract their support of the revolution.

Court-like trials were also held at universities, with women being the primary targets. They were given a verdict based on the accusations before being expelled or suspended. The deputy director of the non-profit Centre for Human Rights in Iran, Jasmin Ramsey, said that the Islamic Republic had a long history of persecuting university students who participated in peaceful protests.

“Recent developments have revealed that university disciplinary committees in Iran have conducted sham ‘hearings’ where students and professors are treated as guilty without any opportunity to prove their innocence,” she said.

See More Atheist News

If you like our posts, subscribe to the Atheist Republic newsletter to get exclusive content delivered weekly to your inbox. Also, get the book "Why There is No God" for free.

Click Here to Subscribe

Donating = Loving

Heart Icon

Bringing you atheist articles and building active godless communities takes hundreds of hours and resources each month. If you find any joy or stimulation at Atheist Republic, please consider becoming a Supporting Member with a recurring monthly donation of your choosing, between a cup of tea and a good dinner.

Or make a one-time donation in any amount.