Officials in Iran's Gilan Province have shut down a yoga club and detained one male instructor and five female participants in the city of Rasht because they were practicing the exercise regime together.
The state-run news agency IRNA reported on July 19 that police launched an investigation after receiving a tip about the operation of a mixed-gender yoga club. The raid was initiated after "discreet" investigations confirmed the report, according to IRNA.
Those arrested have been referred to the judiciary and a case file has been formed against them, the agency reported.
Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, men and women in Iran have been prohibited from participating in sports activities together, with no official mixed-gender sports clubs existing in the country. Yoga is a legal activity as long as classes are single-sex and the teacher is licensed.
Anger over the suppression of human rights, and women's rights in particular, has boiled over since last September when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died while in police custody. She was being held for an alleged violation of the hijab law, which makes it compulsory for women and girls over the age of 9 to cover their heads when out in public.
While the protests appear to have waned slightly in recent months, resistance to the hijab is likely to increase, analysts say, as it is seen now as a symbol of the state's repression of women and the deadly crackdown on society.
The wave of government intervention against those violating the law has been met with stiff resistance from women.
The campaign against the compulsory hijab has grown so widespread that Abdolhossein Khosropanah, the secretary of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, conceded in June that while women defying the hijab law should technically be arrested, the large numbers of women involved made such a mass arrests unfeasible.
In recent weeks, authorities have broadened their crackdown on the issue, shutting down businesses, restaurants, cafes, and in some cases pharmacies due to the failure of owners or managers to enforce Islamic laws and hijab rules.
In the face of the unrest, some religious and government figures have repeatedly advocated for a tougher stance by the government against offenders.