Iran’s judiciary ordered the arrest of two organizers of a marathon after videos on social media showed several women competing in the event without wearing the mandatory hijab, the Islamic headscarf that covers the head and neck.
“Despite previous warnings about the need to comply with the country’s current laws and regulations, as well as religious, customary and professional principles (…) the event was carried out in a way that violated public decency,” cited the Mizan judicial body of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, according to international news agencies.
“Considering the violations that occurred and based on laws and regulations, a criminal case was opened against the officers and agents who organized this event,” the report added.
Continues after advertising
The marathon was held on Friday (5) on the Iranian island of Kish, in southwestern Iran, attracting around 5,000 participants, in separate men’s and women’s races.
Also read:
As RadioFreeEurope recalled, Kish is in a free trade zone in the Persian Gulf. In an attempt to attract tourists to its shopping areas and beaches, head covering laws are often less strictly enforced.
In a post on social media, journalist Masih Alinejad, who is exiled in the United States and is an activist for women’s rights in the country, said that the Iranian Athletics Federation tried to stop the marathon because many women refused to wear the hijab, but that it was unable to do so.
According to her report, 5,000 runners on Kish Island said “no” to the mandatory use of the veil and participated in the race. In the video posted by the journalist, dozens of women appear on the race’s finishing line
“To the Western media: this is not reform. Khamenei [o aiatolá Ali Khamenei, o líder espiritual do país] has just ordered a more severe repression, but women continue to resist. As one woman told me: ‘It’s over. The Islamic regime is cancelled’”, wrote Alinejad in X.
Continues after advertising
Under Iranian law, the wearing of the hijab has been mandatory since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, with violators subject to long prison sentences, fines and travel bans. Laws are often enforced by the country’s so-called morality police.
