Iranian students protest hijab law at Tehran university amid crackdown

September 29, 2026 at 03:20 PM2 min

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Dozens of students at Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran rallied on September 28 against Iran's hijab law, the imprisonment of classmates, and poor campus living conditions. Videos verified by RFE/RL show a crowd clapping and chanting slogans outside the campus. The protest occurred even as authorities have waged an intensifying crackdown on dissent amid the war with the United States.

Key Facts

Students at Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran rallied on September 28 against the hijab law, imprisoned classmates, and poor campus conditions.
Videos verified by RFE/RL appear to show a crowd of students clapping and chanting slogans outside the campus.
Members of the Basij paramilitary force, overseen by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, purportedly attempted to disperse the protesters.
Protests have been rare in Iran since authorities waged an unprecedented crackdown on mass demonstrations in January, killing thousands according to human rights groups.
Iran's war with the United States and Israel, which began in late February, has led to a widening of the crackdown on dissent.

The Protest

Dozens of university students staged a rare protest at Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran on September 28. The students rallied against the country's hijab law, called for the release of imprisoned classmates, and decried poor living conditions on campus. Videos verified by RFE/RL appear to show a crowd of students clapping and chanting slogans outside the campus in the Iranian capital. The demonstrators pledged to continue protesting, although no new protest was reported on September 29.

Security Response

Members of the volunteer Basij paramilitary force, which is overseen by the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, purportedly attempted to disperse the protesters. In one of the videos, a member of the Basij appears to threaten to "put the students in a sack," or body bag. Protests have been rare in Iran since the authorities waged an unprecedented crackdown on mass demonstrations in January, killing thousands of people according to human rights groups.

Crackdown Context

The January protests were triggered by spiraling inflation, a currency freefall, and deteriorating living conditions and posed the gravest threat to Iran's clerical rulers since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Iran's war with the United States and Israel, which began in late February, has led to a widening of the crackdown on dissent. Iranians who spoke to RFE/RL's Radio Farda describe a growing climate of fear in the country of some 90 million people. Human rights groups have documented a surge in public executions and arrests on national security charges, including espionage. Universities and students have 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, prompting a brutal raid on Tehran University dorms that left one student dead.