Authors
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
As protests against the Iran government’s hijab rules continue to rage, spilling over from Iran to several other parts of the world, social media users in India are sharing the video of a young woman protesting topless, addressing a crowd, purportedly in Iran.
Also read: Iranian Man Dancing At Daughter’s Funeral? No, Viral Footage Is From An Azerbaijani Show
Users sharing the video drew comparison between the ‘Iranian woman protesting naked’ and the Indian Muslim women who insisted on wearing a the hijab.
Fact check/ Verification
Newschecker began the research by looking up the words ‘Itan’ ‘topless protest’ and ‘Hijab’ on twitter and found several posts by users sharing the same video. One of the posts, made on October5, by a verified handle @RadioZamaneh caught our attention. The handle, which belongs to an independent radio station in Iran, shared a video statement of a woman who resembles the topless protester in the viral video. The translation of the text, which was in Persian, read “Explanation #نیلوفر_فولادی about his protest act in the Amsterdam demonstration as well as the false news of his arrest in the Netherlands (sic)”.
Newschecker further checked the twitter timeline of the @RadioZamaneh and found another tweet on October 2, which 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”.
Another tweet by @VOAFarsi also confirmed that the incident took place in Amsterdam.
On looking up more information about Niloufer Fulodi, we found no media reports from credible websites, but were able to find that she is an Iranian born in Tehran who now lives in Europe and is a member of anti-forced hijab protesters, known as Revolution Street Women (girls of Elkhebal Street).
Also Read: Viral Video Claiming To Show Mahsa Amini Being Attacked By Iran’s Morality Police Is False
Conclusion
The video of a topless woman attending a protest against Iran government in The Netherlands has been shared as a video of women protesting against hijab in Iran.
Result: Partly False
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Authors
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
