Police Prevented the Implementation of 'Car-Free Tuesdays' in Tehran

An official from Iran's Environmental Organization announced that the police prevented the holding of a group 'family' cycling event that was scheduled to take place on Tuesday, September 6, as part of the 'Car-Free Tuesdays' initiative. According to ISNA news agency, Mohammad Darvish, the director of the Public Participation Office of the Environmental Organization, stated that the police cited 'lack of permission' as the reason for stopping the event. The program was supposed to take place from Laleh Park to the Artists' House in Tehran, with the goal of 'engaging citizens in preserving and improving the environment.' Reports indicate that the 'Car-Free Tuesdays' initiative began in December 2015 in Arak and has since been implemented in several other provinces in Iran. However, women's cycling in this initiative has faced opposition in some cities. For instance, police in Marivan, Kurdistan Province, confiscated bicycles from several women participating in the program and arrested some of them on August 27. Imam Mustafa Shirzadi, the Friday prayer leader of the Marivan Grand Mosque, stated during the Friday prayers on August 28 that 'cycling for women in public is a sin, and authorities should provide suitable and covered spaces for women.' Following this incident, over a thousand people from Marivan and civil activists signed a letter addressed to the Vice Presidency for Women and local officials protesting the ban on women's cycling in the city. Subsequently, a group of women in Tehran cycled on September 24, carrying placards referencing statements attributed to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, asserting that 'women's cycling is both religiously permissible and legal.' Meanwhile, a member of the 'Questions and Answers' unit of the Supreme Leader's office responded to a query from the newspaper 'Vaghaye Ettefaghieh,' stating that according to Ayatollah Khamenei, cycling and motorcycling are permissible as long as they do not attract the attention of non-mahrams or lead to any corruption. However, websites close to conservatives published statements from the Supreme Leader made on December 28, 1996, during a meeting with officials from the Physical Education Organization, where he said that cycling 'for girls in the streets of Tehran... is not appropriate.' According to a report published by the Supreme Leader's website from that meeting, Khamenei stated that 'in women's sports, showing off and displaying oneself is forbidden.'