Filmed assaults on women in Iran spark outrage

On Monday, women's rights advocate and journalist Masih Alinejad shared a video showing a man kicking a woman to the ground apparently after her headscarf slipped off in the southern Iranian city of Gachsaran.

According to Alinejad, the man had been attacking women who were not following Iran’s mandatory hijab rules. He wears military-style camouflage trousers in the manner of Iran's domestic enforcement militia the Basij.

“He’s not a lone wolf. He is a product of a system that trains men to police, punish, and humiliate women,” Alinejad said on X, calling the act “state-sponsored gender apartheid.”

She also criticized foreign governments that continue to engage diplomatically with Iran, saying this amounts to legitimizing the state’s repressive policies toward women.

Separately, during the annual assembly of the Isfahan Building Engineering Organization, a female member who reportedly questioned the body’s financial practices was physically assaulted by another attendee.

The incident, captured on video, sparked backlash on social media and was denounced as another example of institutional tolerance for violence against women in the country.

The cases follow nearly three years of heightened tension over women’s rights in Iran, beginning with the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022.

Amini had been detained by the morality police for allegedly violating hijab rules. Her death triggered widespread protests and a violent state crackdown in which hundreds were killed and thousands arrested.

Since then, authorities have expanded surveillance and enforcement measures, drawing condemnation from international human rights groups.