In November 2024, Iranian student Ahou Dariai became known around the world when she appeared in her underwear in the courtyard of her university in Tehran.

Nearly two years later, a close friend of hers describes to the Daily Mail what, she claims, preceded and followed that act, alleging that the woman, now 32, remains under surveillance and is forced to take antipsychotic medication.

The incident occurred in November 2024, when Darai’s hijab momentarily slipped off her head as she was climbing the steps of Azad Islamic University in Tehran. She, absorbed in her cell phone, reportedly did not notice and continued walking.

According to her friend’s account, men began shouting at her and pulling her aggressively. During the altercation, her clothes began to tear, and an attempt was made to lead her into a room that, according to the testimony, was used to punish female students.

“If you’re going to take them off anyway, I’ll take them off myself.”

Her friend claims that Dariai then decided to react in a way that would take those around her by surprise: she began taking off her clothes by herself and then walked across the university courtyard wearing only her underwear.

“They were aggressively pulling at her, trying to get her into a room, and she had started to get very upset. She wanted them to let her go, but they wouldn’t let go of her clothes. So she got so angry that she started taking them off herself,” her friend said.

As she claimed, Darai threw her clothes in front of her, provoking the people who had surrounded her to show what they intended to do.

Her reasoning at that moment, according to her friend, was that since they were going to strip her or subject her to whatever she feared would happen inside the room, she would turn that very moment into an act of resistance that would be worth the punishment she expected to follow.

The video of the student walking in her underwear went viral on social media and garnered millions of views.

The Arrest and Allegations of Mistreatment

Dariai sat on a low wall in the university courtyard until the police arrived. Then, according to her testimony, the officers forcibly put her in the back of a van.

Her friend alleges that while she was being transported to the police station, her head was placed between the legs of a female officer, making it difficult for her to breathe.

“Her head was between the knees of one of the two women, with her hair covering her face,” she said.

As she described it, Darai believed she was in danger of dying from suffocation and was thinking about her two children and the possibility of them being left orphaned. In an effort to stay awake, she reportedly bit the police officer’s hand, who then spread her knees apart, allowing her to breathe.

“They drugged her at the police station”

According to her friend, when she arrived at the police station, Darai began screaming and kicking in protest. Then, she claims, an attempt was made to administer an injectable substance to her. During the first attempt, the needle reportedly broke, while on the second attempt, the injection was administered successfully and the student lost consciousness.

When she woke up, she was in a hospital bed with her hands and feet tied, unaware of exactly where she had been taken.

She asked to see her family, but, according to her testimony, the doctors did not respond. Every time she tried to find out what was happening, she was allegedly administered a new substance that caused her to fall asleep or lose consciousness again.

At the same time, people reportedly interrogated her about the reasons for her actions, asking what she was thinking at that moment and accusing her of seeking to leave Iran and seek asylum in another country.

The international outcry

At the same time, images from the university went viral around the world, sparking international reactions.

Amnesty International reported that Darai had removed her clothes “in protest against the abusive enforcement of the mandatory face covering by security officials” and called for her “immediate and unconditional release.”

At the same time, Iranian authorities claimed that her behavior was due to mental health issues, and Darai was transferred to a psychiatric facility.

She, however, insists that she did not suffer from such a problem and believes that portraying her as mentally ill was an attempt by the authorities to attribute her actions to a personal issue rather than a reaction against the regime.

Allegations of pressure on her family

Following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, women in Iran are required to cover their necks and heads. Dress codes are enforced, among other things, by the special morality police, officially known as Gasht-e Ershad or the “Guidance Patrol.”

Dariai’s friend claimed that police officers visited members of her family, including her children, and threatened them in order to make it clear to her that they had authority over her.

She added that they then visited her ex-husband, who was forced to state that Dariai was suffering from mental health issues.

According to her friend, the authorities’ goal was, given the video’s massive circulation, to portray the incident as the result of a mental disorder and to force her to accept this version of events by putting pressure on her family.

Following the relevant “confirmation” from her ex-husband, Darai was released after 18 days.

The allegation that she is being forced to take antipsychotic medication

According to her friend, the Iranian authorities informed her upon her release that she would be under surveillance and that her phone would be monitored.

At the same time, she was reportedly forced to take antipsychotic medication, the cost of which was covered by her own insurance.

Her friend claims that the surveillance was so close that the authorities realized she wasn’t taking the medication because she was walking normally, while, as she asserts, the effects of that particular treatment would have made her appear unsteady on her feet.

Now, according to the same source, the woman is required to receive monthly injections of flupentixol, a medication used, among other things, to treat schizophrenia. The injections are administered by doctors to ensure she receives the treatment.

“Her family said it’s better for her to get these injections and be labeled as mentally ill than to be hanged, imprisoned, or tortured,” her friend said.

She added that when Darai asked a doctor what would happen if she stopped the injections, he reportedly replied that she would be arrested and returned to a psychiatric hospital, where she would be restrained again.

“This is my body, this is my life”

Dariai is now 32 years old and is studying textile engineering at a different university.

According to her friend, she now explains her actions from two different perspectives. Initially, she reacted because she couldn’t stand the way they were pulling at her and treating her because of a headscarf. As her friend describes it, Darai wanted her resistance to be commensurate with what she felt she was enduring at that moment.

Subsequently, however, the act took on a second meaning for her: to show that she is the one who decides about her body and her choices.

“This is me. This is my body. This is my life. And if I want to walk in a bikini, I’ll walk in a bikini,” her friend relayed as the message Dariai wanted to convey.

According to the Daily Mail, Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani had denied at the time both that her arrest had been violent and that the incident was related to Islamic dress codes.

Source: Protothema.gr