Iran arrested Hanieh Shariati Roudposhti, a taekwondo athlete and coach living in Tehran, taking her to a secret location, after performing in the street and publishing videos on social media showing her without a veil, mandatory in the Islamic Republic.
This was reported by the human rights organization Hengaw, based in Norway, and some media such as the Daily Mail. According to what the NGO reported, Shariati Roudposhti was stopped in Tehran by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence on the evening of Sunday 9 November 2025 and a source close to her family reported that the arrest was justified with “failure to observe the public dress code during a public performance”.
The source added that after the arrest, Shariati Roudposhti made a short phone call to her family, expressing concern about her situation and asking for help. Since then, there has been no information on his fate or condition.
After the arrest, the woman’s social media accounts were taken over by Iranian security agencies and her Instagram page, which had nearly 160,000 followers, was blocked and now displays the emblem of the Iranian Cyber Police.