The Iranian authorities arrested this Saturday (June 12, 2025) “the two main organizers” of a marathon that took place on Friday in Kish in which uncovered women took part, violating the rules introduced after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. “One of the arrested people is an official from the Kish Free Zone, the others work in the private company that organized the competition,” the judiciary said.
According to local media, more than 5,000 people took part in the marathon on Friday morning in Kish, a tourist island in southern Iran on the Persian Gulf coast. In several races reserved for women, some of them ran without headgear, violating the obligation that has been in place in Iran for four decades, according to images shared on social networks.
Kish prosecutor Ali Salemizadeh said on Friday evening that despite previous warnings, race organizers had “not respected religious, social and professional laws and principles” when conducting the race, citing the participation of women without hijabs. According to the prosecutor, this had “damaged public morals,” which is why he announced a “decisive, dissuasive and unrelenting” response.
It is becoming less and less respected
The Tasnim news agency criticized a “complete lack of supervision and non-compliance with dress standards by a significant proportion of participants.” After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, all women in Iran are required to cover their hair with a hijab and wear simple, loose-fitting clothing in public.
However, this obligation is being fulfilled less and less. There is a significant relaxation of strict rules on female dress on the country’s streets, with hair loose without veils, skirts and tank tops, after the government of reformist President Masud Pezeshkian stopped taking strict measures against women who do not wear veils.
Clergy and conservative figures are resisting this trend, which they see as a generalization of “nudity” and an encroachment of Western influence that is perceived as a threat.
DZC (EFE, AFP)