Two organizers of a marathon on Iran’s Kish Island have been detained following alleged legal and religious violations during the event, the island’s prosecutor said, after footage appeared to show women running without hijab.
The prosecutor said one of those detained is an official with the Kish Free Zone Organization and the other is from the private company that organized the race. Both have been charged and placed under bail orders after formal questioning. Judicial supervision measures were also imposed, barring the state official from public employment and the private organizer from managing or holding sports events.
The sixth Kish Marathon went ahead on Friday morning with nearly 5,000 runners on the Persian Gulf resort island, despite opposition from Iran’s Athletics Federation, which had cited concerns over “legal and religious requirements.”
“The manner in which the event was conducted damaged public decency,” the prosecutor’s office said earlier in a statement carried by the IRGC-linked Tasnim news agency. It said officials had been warned beforehand “to observe the country’s laws and religious and social norms” but had failed to comply.
‘The Las Vegas Republic
The announcement followed a cascade of attacks from hardline activists and media—including Tasnim.
The race, it asserted, promoted “open, public unveiling (and) debauchery,” for which those responsible “must be punished immediately.”
A hardline activist writing under the name Aminizadeh blasted officials as “careless and dishonourable,” describing the race as a “disco marathon.”
“Is this the Islamic Republic or the Las Vegas Republic,” he quipped. “Who sponsored this stupid act?”
‘Settling political scores’
Such interventions echoed broader efforts by conservative figures to reassert control over public space and dress codes three years after the widespread 2022 protests, which has eroded enforcement of Islamic dress code in many urban areas.
Many supporters of the event pushed back, accusing hardliners of exploiting hijab sensitivities for political gain.
Journalist Amir Taher Hosseinkhan wrote on X that women had run their race at 5:30am and men at 8:30am, with strict separation and control.
“So why are you still insisting on creating a false narrative?” he asked. “How did something you claim is sacred become a tool for bargaining and settling scores?”
Organizers have so far not publicly commented on the prosecutor’s announcement.
