Officials in Iran allegedly used excessive force to prevent scores of Iranian women from entering the Imam Reza football stadium.
Women were denied from accessing the sports stadium in Mashhad, Khorasan province, to watch Iran play Lebanon in a FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifier match. However, according to a few social media videos, women gathered in front of the stadium, and authorities used pepper spray to disperse them. The semi-official ISNA news agency said that 12,500 seats were for sale online, with 2,000 reserved for women.
“Iranian authorities have repeatedly demonstrated they are willing to go to great lengths to enforce their discriminatory and cruel ban on women attending football stadiums,” said Tara Sepehri Far, senior Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Given Iranian authorities’ long-standing violations, FIFA needs to follow its own global guidelines on nondiscrimination and should consider enforcing penalties for Iran’s noncompliance.”
No allowance for women in stadiums for the past 40 years
The team qualified for the World Cup in Qatar after defeating Iraq in January. Moreover, a video circulating on social media shows hundreds of female soccer fans chanting,
“We have an objection.”
It is in response to the decision to restrict female soccer supporters from attending the match in Mashhad. It was unclear who decided to prevent the women from attending the game. Khabaronline, an Iranian news website, said that “despite tickets being sold, women are still not allowed to attend the stadium.”
Iranian authorities have prohibited women from attending football and other sporting events in stadiums for the previous 40 years. Although this prohibition is certainly not into law or regulated. Authorities have consistently implemented it for decades. However, women have been under arrest, beaten, detained, and abused as a result of the restriction.