Iran's morality police once again sparked outrage this week after a video went viral, renewing debate on the controlling practice. In the footage, apparently captured Oct. 27, a female student is seen confronting a police van that drives into her and almost runs her over before it is surrounded with bystanders. The woman is said to have been protesting the arrest of a friend over her failure to observe proper hijab, an offense Iran's morality police exists to punish.

The incident took place in what looks like a parking lot outside a branch of Azad University in Tehran's northeastern Sohanak area. Despite being omnipresent in crowded and popular spots, the morality police rarely flex their muscles near university campuses.

Senior Iranian Reformist lawmaker Mohammad Reza Aref, who is commonly admonished by pro-Reform youths for his muted responses to rights violations, surpassed their expectations this time. He condemned the incident as a "violation of the sovereignty of universities." Aref also touched on similar incidents in the past decades, when university campuses were stormed by plainclothes forces crushing any sign of student unrest.

The commander of the Tehran Police Department, Hossein Rahimi, did not deny the incident, but offered his own version of "a woman confronting the police vehicle before the driver immediately pulled the brake." The footage, however, shows the van pushing the woman several meters. "The posted video was an edited version," he claimed.