Iran arrests marathon organizers after women run without mandatory hijab

WEBDESK – MediaBites – December 7, 2025

Iranian authorities have arrested two organizers of a marathon on Kish Island after several women participated without wearing the mandatory hijab, the latest incident highlighting the deepening rift between the public and the country’s clerical establishment over dress-code enforcement.

The judiciary announced on December 6 that the organizers were detained for allowing the event to proceed in a way that “violated public decency,” despite what officials described as prior warnings. The marathon, held a day earlier and drawing nearly 5,000 runners, included separate races for men and women — but footage circulated online showed some women running without head coverings.

According to the judiciary-linked Mizan news outlet, a criminal case has been opened and two key organizers — one from the Kish Free Zone administration and one from a private event company — were arrested under judicial supervision. It remains unclear whether they were jailed or released pending investigation.

Kish Island: A tourism hub now pulled into Iran’s hijab crackdown

Kish, a free-trade zone where hijab rules have historically been more loosely enforced to attract tourists, has increasingly become a battleground in Iran’s renewed push to restore strict dress-code compliance. Authorities have warned businesses, hotels and public events on the island to enforce the hijab or face penalties.

The marathon’s visibility — and the fact that it took place in a semi-relaxed jurisdiction — intensified the backlash among hard-liners who accuse local officials of “normalizing disobedience.”

A nation divided since the Mahsa Amini uprising

Although Iran legally mandates the hijab under laws introduced after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, enforcement has weakened significantly since the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, whose detention by morality police sparked nationwide women-led protests and the largest antiestablishment uprising in decades.

Since then, millions of women — especially in Tehran and other major cities — openly appear in public without headscarves, despite threats of fines, surveillance measures and travel bans. The government introduced an enhanced Hijab and Chastity Law, but its harshest provisions were quietly suspended amid fears of igniting new unrest.

Even within the ruling elite, divisions have surfaced.
In October, Expediency Council member Mohammad Reza Bahonar declared “there is essentially no compulsory hijab law in force,” a remark that infuriated hard-liners but reflected on-the-ground realities.

President Masud Pezeshkian, considered a moderate, has refused to sign a stricter parliamentary bill imposing harsher penalties on women who defy the dress code.

Rights groups condemn continued crackdowns

International organizations have repeatedly criticized Iran for systemic violations of women’s rights. A 2024 UN report said Tehran has “intensified its efforts to suppress the fundamental rights of women and girls and crush remaining initiatives of women’s activism.”

The arrest of the marathon organizers signals that Iran’s judiciary — and its conservative power centers — remain determined to enforce hijab rules, even as millions of women continue to silently defy them and the political establishment itself shows signs of fracture.

The incident has once again thrust Iran’s hijab enforcement — and its unresolved struggle over personal freedoms — back into global focus.