Iranian authorities on Thursday allowed women to attend a friendly international football match, seven months after the last time women were seen in the stands of a stadium in the country.
Hundreds of women supported “Team Melli”, as the Iranian national team is called, in a match against Russia at Azadi Stadium in Tehran, which ended in a draw with a goal.
State television briefly showed supporters of the team with flags and hats in the national colors in an exclusive area for women, as is customary in the Islamic country, which practices gender segregation at some public events.
For 40 years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has not allowed women to enter stadiums, a taboo broken in 2019 in Iran-Cambodia, which was attended by 3,500 women, under pressure from FIFA.
But the covid-19 pandemic interrupted audience attendance in stadiums, with no women in stadiums until 2022.
In January 2022, for the second time in four decades, some 2,000 supporters were able to watch the Iran-Iraq match in Tehran, in which the Iranians sealed their qualification for the World Cup in Qatar.
But in March of the same year, women were not allowed to participate in the qualifier against Lebanon for the World Cup in Qatar after buying tickets, which drew criticism.
The presence of women in the stands of Azadi Stadium this Thursday comes after months of protests over the death of Mahsa Amini after she was arrested by vice police for not wearing the headscarf properly.
The Islamic Republic resorted to violence and repression to stop the protests that have already caused nearly 500 deaths, the arrest of tens of thousands of people (22,000 of whom were pardoned) and the hanging of four protesters, one of them on public roads.
Source: DN
