Only a few days after Khamenei’s remarks banning arrangement of co-ed events by cultural officials in universities, the state-run ISNA news agency reported on Monday that there was a mixed-sex fashion show in Firouzeh auditorium of the University of Birjand (northeastern South Khorassan Province),
with girls and boys dancing together to tunes with female singers.
ISNA wrote: “It seems that despite stern emphases by the Leader of the Revolution on refraining from having mixed-sex camping and concerts in universities, officials of the province and the South Khorassan University do not care for these ceremonies that break the norms. They do not care to follow up on the issue because there have been other similar events in the University of Birjand, including a mixed-sex desert-hiking festival and a musical concert accompanied by dancing, etc.”
This and other similar incidents indicate the extent of the clerical regime’s isolation in Iranian society and how Iranian women and youths make a mockery of the regime and its leader by such different forms of protest.
(State-run ISNA news agency, November 16, 2015)