Video of an Iranian man apparently pepper spraying a woman following an altercation about her not wearing the hijab has been spreading on social media.
The video was shared on Instagram by Iranian activist and Voice of America journalist Masih Alinejad, who started the My Stealthy Freedom and White Wednesday campaigns to promote Iranian women defying the country’s modesty rules.
The video shows a man walking away from a woman who is shouting at him. The woman, who isn’t visible on camera, then follows the man as he walks away and they argue.
The man then turns around and walks back towards the woman, taking a canister out of his bag. It appears to be pepper spray and he holds it up near the woman’s face. The sound of it being sprayed can then be heard as the camera shakes and the video cuts out.
“This pro-regime man attacked me with tear gas for not wearing hijab,” the woman who filmed the video told Alinejad. “In Iran I face this violence every day but this is the first time I joined #MyCameraIsMyWeapon movement to protest, as a result many people came to support me.”
The man reportedly told the woman her scarf had slipped, and when she didn’t replace it, he objected. She alleges he also broke her glasses and a crowd gathered as their altercation unfolded.
Alinejad shared the video online, saying it was the second such incident flagged with the #MyCameraisaWeapon campaign, in which Iranian women film any altercations they get into with police or fellow Iranians for not wearing the compulsory hijab.
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