Students from the Psychology Department of Tehran’s Beheshti University staged a strike on November 21, marking a significant escalation in ongoing student-led protests against increased security measures on campuses across the country and stricter enforcement of the mandatory hijab law.
Students said the strike was a response to incidents where masked individuals, alongside university security forces, reportedly entered classrooms on November 20 and confiscated the IDs of female students who were not wearing the hijab, or Islamic head scarf.
Eyewitness accounts indicate that the security personnel, whose identities and affiliations remain unclear, specifically targeted female students whose scarves had slipped from their heads, confiscating their student identification cards during lectures.
The strike mirrors a growing trend of student activism across Iran, most notably at the Tarbiat Modares University, where students boycotted classes to protest against what they say are the repressive tactics of the university's security forces.
Student activists have highlighted the increasingly oppressive atmosphere within Iranian universities since the start of the new academic year. This includes widespread summonses issued by intelligence and security agencies, disciplinary actions, temporary suspensions, and even expulsions of students and faculty members.
Universities and students have long been at the forefront of the struggle for greater social and political freedoms in Iran. In 1999, students protested the closure of a reformist daily newspaper, prompting a brutal raid on the dorms of Tehran University that left one student dead.
Over the years, the authorities have arrested student activists and leaders, sentencing them to prison and banning them from studying.
The activist HRANA news agency says at least 700 university students have been arrested during the nationwide protests sparked by the September 2022 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody for allegedly breaking the country's hijab rule.
Many have faced sentences such as imprisonment and flogging, and dozens of students have been expelled from universities or suspended from their studies, as security forces try to stifle widespread dissent.