Iranian Netflix actress strips off a hijab and goes topless in protest

Iranian Netflix actress strips off a hijab and goes topless in just her underwear in protest against Islamic Republic’s morality police

• Elnaaz Norouzi, 30, stripped off her Islamic robes down to her underpants
• The Sacred Games actress said she is ‘promoting freedom of choice’
• Protests have rocked Iran since the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody

An Iranian Netflix actress has stripped off her hijab and Islamic robes layer by layer down to just her underpants in a defiant protest against the regime’s authoritarian clothing laws.

Elnaaz Norouzi, 30, shared a video in which she shed her state-mandated headscarf and stood topless in solidarity with the mass demonstrations rocking Iran since the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, who was arrested by the morality police for ‘inappropriate attire’.

Norouzi, who stars in Sacred Games, told her two million followers: ‘I am not promoting nudity, I am promoting freedom of choice!’

Iranian Netflix actress Elnaaz Norouzi stripped off her hijab and Islamic robes layer by layer down to just her underpants

The star shared a video in which she shed her state-mandated headscarf in solidarity with the mass demonstrations rocking Iran

Norouzi, who stars in Sacred Games, told her two million followers: ‘I am not promoting nudity, I am promoting freedom of choice!’

The actress is first seen standing with only her hands, eyes and feet visible, with the rest of her body covered with a black hijab and robes.

The star then peels off each item of clothing layer by layer and lets her hair down in bold defiance against the authoritarian state’s clothing laws for women.

Under her robes, she is wearing a dress, jeans, a shirt, a skirt and a crop top, which she all removes leaving her standing in her underwear.

The star then goes even further and removes a first layer of underpants and her bra, covering her chest with only her hands.

The star then peels off each item of clothing layer by layer and lets her hair down in bold defiance against the authoritarian state’s clothing laws for women

Under her robes, she is wearing a dress, jeans, a shirt, a skirt and a crop top, which she all removes leaving her standing in her underwear

Norouzi previously worked as an international model for luxury brands including Dior and Lacoste and works in India and Germany

Norouzi wrote in the Instagram caption: ‘Every Woman should have the power to decide over her own body!’

Norouzi wrote in the Instagram caption: ‘Every Woman, anywhere in the world, regardless of where she is from, should have the right to wear whatever she desires and when or wherever she desires to wear it.

‘No man nor any other woman has the right to judge her or ask her to dress otherwise.

‘Everyone has different views and beliefs and they have to be respected.

‘Democracy means the power to decide… Every Woman should have the power to decide over her own body!’

Norouzi previously worked as an international model for luxury brands including Dior and Lacoste and works in India and Germany.

The demonstrations were sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, (pictured) a woman who died in the custody of Iran’s feared morality police

She told India Today: ‘The situation in Iran is very bad at the moment… Women have been oppressed for more than 40 years. I was born in Tehran and I have seen it. I had to wear hijab from early on.

‘I myself was stopped by morality police a couple of years back when I was in Tehran. I was taken away for ‘re-education’, as they called it, where Mahsa was taken, where she must have been beaten.

‘It is a scary place to live in. You don’t want to live like that. You don’t want to leave the house and not know if you’re ever going come back. It is sad. We just don’t want our women, our people to live like this.

‘Anywhere in the world, women should be allowed to make their own decision. It is fine if they want to cover their hair or don’t want to cover their hair. It should be a woman’s decision for herself. That is what Iranian people are hoping for.’ 

Norouzi joins a chorus of opposition to Iran’s clothing laws, with thousands of women taking off their headscarves and cutting their hair in recent weeks.

Protesters and celebrities around the world have also cut their hair in a sign of solidarity with Iranian women. 

Demonstrations that began last month at the funeral of Ms Amini have turned into the biggest challenges to Iran’s clerical leaders in years, with protesters calling for the downfall of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. 

This powerful image shows schoolgirls raising their middle fingers at a portrait of Iran’s leaders in a classroom. Some of the girls are shown to have removed their headscarves and are holding them above their heads while they make the gesture, their long hair draped down their backs

Oscar-winning actors Marion Cotillard (right) and Juliette Binoche (left) filmed themselves chopping off locks of their hair in a video in support of protesters in Iran

Ms Amini’s death has sparked an unprecedented wave of protests across Iran.

She was arrested on September 13 for wearing ‘inappropriate attire’. She died three days later at a Tehran hospital.

Iran’s government insists Amini was not mistreated, but her family says her body showed bruises and other signs of beating after she was detained for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. 

Subsequent videos have shown security forces beating and shoving female protesters, including women who have torn off their mandatory headscarf, or hijab. 

The authorities are waging a deadly crackdown against the unrest, with more than 185 protesters feared killed in the violence, including 19 children.

The government says more than 20 members of the security forces have been killed.

The authorities are waging a deadly crackdown against the unrest, with more than 185 protesters feared killed in the violence, including 19 children

Iranian students chant slogans as they protest at Tehran’s Amirkabir University of Technology

Iranian authorities have said they will investigate civilian deaths.

They have blamed the violence on an array of enemies, including armed Iranian Kurdish dissidents, the US and Isreal.

Dozens of universities are also currently on strike, with students playing a pivotal role in the protests.

In several neighbourhoods of Tehran, such as Shahrak’e Gharb and Narmak, witnesses said people chanted ‘Death to Khamenei’ from rooftops after nightfall. 

Videos on social media showed demonstrations in the cities of Isfahan and Qom with protesters cursing and throwing stones at security forces.

The authorities’ crackdown on protesters has prompted some Western states to draw up more sanctions on Iran, stoking diplomatic tensions at a time when talks to revive Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers are at a standstill.

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