The woman had taken off her white headscarf and waved it around on a stick in protest against clothing restrictions on women in Iran. But now the 31-year-old is believed to have been arrested by police for not covering her hair in public. The woman has not been seen since the video of her standing on the pillar box without her headscarf emerged, like reported by metro.co.uk.
Her protest is believed to have taken place on December 27, a day before economic protests broke out across the country. She was dubbed the ‘Girl of Enghelab Street’ following the protest, gaining many supporters. Other women began copying her act of defiance by filming themselves waving their own headscarves in public.
Using the hashtag #Where_is_she?, supporters have now been sharing videos and images of the woman, demanding authorities to reveal her whereabouts.
One woman, Nasrin Sotoudeh, a human rights lawyer, believes the woman has been taken into custody. Miss Soutoudeh said she could not find the woman’s name but discovered she was 31 and had a 19-month-old baby. She said: ”What I am certain about is that this lady has been arrested.
‘The witnesses on the scene who saw her being taken away and even accompanied her to the police station gave me this information. I have no contact with her family.’ She added: ‘Women feel they have no control over their bodies. It is a prelude to infringing on all of their rights.’ Under Islamic law, women are required to wear a headscarf and long clothes that cover the arms and legs. If found to break the law, women can be fined up to 500,000 rials (£8.55) and be jailed for up to two months in prison.
But Miss Soutoudeh claims the police regularly go beyond the required punishment by law for not wearing a headscarf. She said women are often taken to a place called ‘Gasht-e Ershad’ [Guidance Patrol], ‘where they can be harshly beaten up.’ ‘The illegal punishment they have had to bear has always been much more than what is foreseen in the law.’
