A video of a group of women demonstrating in their bare bodies in front of a life-size figure that appears to be dressed like police in riot gear is viral on social media as visuals from anti-hijab protests in Iran.
The anti-Hijab protests in Iran which have since turned into anti-government protests began in the last weeks of September after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police, which enforces the country’s strict Islamic rules. Since then several videos and photos have emerged from Iran where the public, especially women, can be seen ripping off and burning their head coverings to protest the hijab law.
In the context of these protests, right-wing propaganda outlet Kreately shared the video on Twitter with the hashtags ‘#IranProtest’, ‘#Hijab’, ‘#AntiHijabProtest’. It is claimed that the viral video shows visuals from the streets of Iran. (Archive.)
Use hastags #IranProtest #Hijab #AntiHijabProtest pic.twitter.com/B49YAiANrv
— Kreately.in (@KreatelyMedia) October 14, 2022
Twitter user ‘हम लोग We The People’ shared the video with a caption in Hindi that read “A unique protest by Iranian women against the hijab. The condition was that Hijab was made mandatory…But they have moved beyond hijab, the Iranian women have come out on the streets without any clothes at all.” (Archive.)
हिज़ाब के विरोध में, ईरानी महिलाओं का अनूठा विरोध प्रदर्शन….
शर्त थी की हिज़ाब पहनना ही होगा… हिज़ाब तो दूर बेहिसाब बेलिबास सड़को पर उतर आई ईरानी महिलाएं… pic.twitter.com/t4Uo7N1c1f
— हम लोग We The People (@ajaychauhan41) October 14, 2022
Alt News has received requests on its official mobile app pertaining to the video of women allegedly protesting naked on the streets of Iran.
Another video of women protesting topless allegedly on the streets of Iran is also viral on social media. One user shared the clip with a caption in Hindi that reads, “The anti-Hijab protest has turned into topless protests…”
This clip is also viral on Twitter in English with similar claims. (Archive.)
Fact-check
Video 1:
When one inspects the first video carefully, it is evident from the beginning that the visual could not be from Iran based on the landscape and the language that can be heard. The language audible in the video suggests that the visuals could be from South America.
Taking note of these clues, we performed several Google reverse image searches using Google lens which identified one of the structures in the video to be the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, located in Santiago, the capital of Chile.
We performed multiple keyword searches both in Spanish and English and came across several news reports about the incident. An article from The Sun published in November 2019 reports that “NAKED women rallied in the streets of Santiago, Chile to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.”
The photos in the article matched the visuals seen in the viral clip. The photos were credited to Reuters. Below we have placed one of the photos from the article and a still from the viral video side by side, comparing both visuals.
We also found a tweet of an article from November 2019 which had the same viral clip.
La extraña protesta “al desnudo” de jovenes contra Sebastián Piñera https://t.co/WFHzoMLbYP
— El Cooperante (@El_Cooperante) November 27, 2019
In summary, a video of women protesting on the streets of Santiago, Chile was falsely shared as visuals from the anti-Hijab protest in Iran.
Video 2:
Similar to the first video, when we look at the landscape in the second clip carefully, it does not appear to be from Iran. In fact, the landscape suggests that the visuals could be from Europe. Taking this clue we performed a keyword search on Twitter in Persian and came across the same visuals. The source has not been hyperlinked as it seems the account was targeting the woman seen in the viral clip.
The caption in Persian read “‘Nilofar Foulidi’ was a spy of the Islamic Republic, she was arrested by the Dutch police on charges of cooperation with the intelligence services of the Islamic Republic…”
Upon searching for the name, we came across a YouTube video by one Nano GoleSorkh. The video titled “In defence of ‘Niloofar Fouladi’ and topless protest as political act” was uploaded on October 6. In this clip, the speaker says that Niloofar Fouladi recently did a topless protest in Amsterdam.
Upon a subsequent search, we found another video on Twitter posted on October 1. As per the caption, the visual is from Holland (Amsterdam) and the protest is being led by artist ‘Nilofar Fouladi’.
We also found a tweet from Radio Zamaneh in Persian that read, “The protest movement of ‘Niloufer Fuladi’, an artist and one of the girls of Elkhebal Street, in protest against the mandatory hijab and the murder of Mehsa Amini by the government in Amsterdam. The Netherlands October 1, 2022 #Mehsa_Amini”
To sum it up, a video of a protest against the Islamic Regime led by artist Niloofar Fouladi on the streets of Amsterdam was falsely shared as a visual from the streets of Iran.
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