Iranian cops bust yoga class for ‘inappropriate outfits,’ coed class
Iranian police busted 30 people in a yoga class — for wearing “inappropriate outfits” while in a banned mixed-sex class, according to reports.
Authorities raided the secret sweaty session after monitoring a private house in the northern city of Gorgan for “some time,” according to the BBC, citing the local Tasnim news agency.
The class was advertised on Instagram — even though mixed-gender sports activities are banned in Iran.
Massoud Soleimani, deputy chief of the city’s Islamic Revolution Court, told the agency that the 30 arrested were wearing “inappropriate outfits” and had “behaved inappropriately.” He did not give more details on their outfits.
He said the male instructor, who was among those arrested, did not have a license for the class, which also could only have been legal if it had been same-sex.
Soleimani also criticized the “lack of surveillance of activities” on social media in the country, according to the agency reports.
The story quickly trended online in Iran, according to the BBC.
“They [Iranian authorities] think even the word yoga is problematic based on the Sharia,” one user tweeted.
“I guess the authorities need to tell us what exactly we are allowed to do in this country,” commented another tweeter as people worried online about the trouble they could get into innocently attending classes.
In 2017, Iranian sports authorities issued a ban on zumba classes and “any harmonious movement or body-shaking instruction,” ruling that it contravened “Islamic ideology.”
