Iranian woman removes cleric's turban in airport confrontation
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.
Countering Mashregh News's claims, some social media users have interpreted the airport incident as a powerful act of protest, with some describing it as a " remarkable protest performance."
For instance, one user praised the woman's "transformation of the turban into a mandatory scarf" as an innovative form of resistance.
The Israeli television network Kan 11 also shared the video, framing it as a protest against the enforcement of mandatory hijab.
The incident highlights the ongoing struggle over women's rights in Iran. In the past two years, thousands of women have faced arrest, summons, fines, prosecution, or denial of public services for not adhering to the state-mandated dress code.
In December 2023, Mohsen Aghili, the head of airport police, stated that women would be denied airport services if they did not wear a hijab.
Prior to that, officials at airports in Fars province and Mashhad had announced the deployment of hijab enforcers to prevent what they called improperly veiled people from entering airports and terminals.
In July, the Tehran office of Turkish Airlines was temporarily closed due to its employees' non-compliance with hijab regulations.
The Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA) reported in December that over 30,000 women faced legal action last year for defying mandatory hijab.
The Iranian authorities' efforts to enforce hijab continue through various means, including the recently passed the so-called Chastity and Hijab Law.
The final text of the "Family Protection through Promoting the Culture of Chastity and Hijab" law was published in Iranian media in November, prompting widespread expressions of concern from several rights groups and activists, including UN experts.
Earlier in January, Rouhollah Momen-Nasab, the secretary of the Tehran Headquarters for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice, called for the law's implementation before the summer. However, the government is hesitant to enforce the law, likely due to concerns about public backlash.