The National Secular Society has urged the UK Government to call on Iranian authorities to release a woman detained after protesting Iran’s hijab laws.

The NSS wrote to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) this week to raise the case of Ahoo Daryaei, a university student who was violently arrested after protesting against compulsory veiling at the Islamic Azad University in Tehran.

According to Iranian journalist and activist Masih Alinejad, Daryaei was harassed by the university’s ‘morality police’ over her ‘improper’ hijab.

Footage posted online shows Daryaei subsequently walking outside the university whilst stripped to her underwear as a protest against the ‘morality police’.

Alinejad posted on X: “She turned her body into a protest, stripping to her underwear and marching through campus—defying a regime that constantly controls women’s bodies. “Her act is a powerful reminder of Iranian women’s fight for freedom”.

Hijab has been compulsory for women since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Protests against the hijab laws have been met with brutal resistance from the Islamic Republic. In 2022, 23 year old Mahsa Amini died after being violently beaten by ‘morality police’ for wearing a hijab ‘incorrectly’. Her death sparked mass protests in Iran and worldwide.

University officials issued a statement saying Daryaei was “under severe stress and suffering from mental disorders, and has been transferred to a medical centre”.

Iranian authorities frequently label protesters as mentally ill or “troubled” to undermine and delegitimise their dissent. This tactic has also been used in other religious regimes; in 2014 Nigerian activist Mubarak Bala was forcibly detained in a psychiatric institution after revealing his atheism.

The NSS has also called on the FCDO to intervene on the case of Shagufta Kiran, a Christian woman sentenced to death under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws in September for supposedly insulting the Islamic prophet Muhammad on WhatsApp. According to Shagufta’s lawyer, the family plans to appeal against the verdict in the High Court.

NSS: Government must speak out “for all those unjustly imprisoned by religious regimes”

NSS chief executive Stephen Evans said: “We are deeply concerned about the safety and wellbeing of Ahoo Daryaei and Shagufta Kiran – two women detained by theocratic states for allegedly defying Islamic laws. Their lives are in imminent danger.

“Our Government must call for their release and advocate for the rights of all those unjustly imprisoned by religious regimes. Upholding human rights and challenging religious persecution must remain a priority in our foreign policy.”

An international day of action has been called for Friday 8 November and will include a protest in solidarity with Ahoo Daryaei at 3:30-4:30pm at Piccadilly Circus, London.

Update 08/11/2024: The FCDO has responded to our letter. It called Daryaei’s case “worrying” and said: “Iran’s human rights record is unacceptable, and we condemn Iran’s continued repression of women and girls”. It added that it will “continue to hold the Iranian regime accountable, including at the UN Third Committee later this month.”

It also said that it works “to protect and promote human rights in Pakistan”, including “regularly raising our opposition to the death penalty and concerns about the misuse of blasphemy laws, both in principle and in relation to specific cases.”