The video is designed to show solidarity with a protest movement sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, who is believed to have been killed by Iran's so-called "morality police".

It has been shared by the Italian Taekwondo Federation across its various social media channels.

"A support to all women in Iran and in the world who are suffering a strong repression, who are fighting hard to live a life as normal as possible as we live it," Maristella Smiraglia says in the video.

"Don’t turn off this voice!

"Together for women’s freedom."

Paulina Armeria, Sarah Al Halwani and Natalia D’Angelo also cut off their hair in the clip.

It ends with a rallying cry popular among the Kurdish independece movement which has been adopted by protestors - "Women, life, freedom."

Amini died on September 16 and the protests which followed have passed the 40-day mark.

Said to be the largest demonstrations in Iran in more than a decade, they have seen many women remove their hijab or publicly cut their hair as an act of defiance against Iran's harsh restrictions on women's freedoms.

The group Iran Human Rights estimates that at least 234 people, including 29 children, have been killed in a brutal crackdown on the protests by security forces.