A woman without Hijab is illegal in Iran

A video has gone viral on social media showing a woman without a mandatory headscarf confronting a cleric at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport, removing his turban and placing it on her own head like a scarf during the altercation.

The video, shared widely on social media on Sunday and Monday, shows the woman angrily removing the turban and saying to the cleric, "So you have honor now?”

She then searches for her husband, calling his name and asking, "What did you do to my husband?" The exact date and cause of the initial confrontation remain unclear.

A media outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Mashregh News, reported that the incident was unrelated to hijab and claimed the woman had "psychological problems."

The outlet also stated that the woman was briefly detained but later released "with the consent of the complainants."

The incident occurred within the context of increasing civil disobedience by women in Iran, particularly following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in September 2022. Crackdowns on women defying mandatory hijab in public places, including airports, have also intensified.

The government's tendency to pathologize dissent is a recurring theme. In November, a female student at the Azad University in Tehran’s Science and Research branch became a symbol of the movement for freedom of dress by removing her clothing in protest.

While many Iranians recognized the as an act of defiance, official narratives attempted to portray her as mentally unstable. Four Iranian psychology and psychiatry associations criticized the government last year for misusing psychiatry and psychology to suppress opposition to mandatory hijab.