Two marathon organisers arrested in Iran over women running without hijabs | Iran
Judicial authorities in Iran arrested two organizers of a marathon held on an island off the country’s southern coast after images emerged showing women participating in the race without headscarves.
Saturday’s arrests come as authorities face growing criticism from ultraconservatives who accuse them of doing inadequate efforts to implement a mandatory hijab law for women amid fears of growing Western influence in the Islamic Republic.
Online footage of the marathon on Kish Island on Friday, which drew about 5,000 participants, showed scores of women competing without headscarves.
“Two of the main organizers of the competition were arrested on an arrest warrant,” the judiciary’s Mizan news site said on Saturday. The statement said, “One of the arrested people is working in the Kish free zone, and the other one works for the private company that organizes the race.”
The judiciary said a criminal case was opened against the organizers of the race.
“Despite previous warnings that the country’s existing laws and regulations, as well as religious, customary and professional principles must be observed… the event was organized in a way that violated public morality,” the local prosecutor was quoted as saying in the Mizan. He was quoted as saying.
“Taking into consideration the violations based on laws and regulations, a criminal case has been filed against the officials and agencies organizing this event.”
Pro-conservative publications, including Tasnim and Fars, had previously condemned the marathon as inappropriate and disrespectful of Islamic laws implemented after the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the US-backed Shah.
Although women in Iran are required to cover their hair and wear modest, loose-fitting clothing in public, adherence to hijab rules has become more erratic since the demonstrations in 2022 following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman arrested for alleged dress code violations.
Earlier this week, a majority of MPs accused the judiciary of not supporting the headscarf law. Chief justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei later called for stricter enforcement of the practice.
President Masoud Pezeshkian’s government has refused to approve a bill passed by parliament that would impose harsh penalties on women who do not comply with the dress code.
In May 2023, the head of Iran’s athletics federation resigned after women without headscarves attended a sporting event in the southern city of Shiraz.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
