A Shia Cleric Criticizes Recent Attendance of Women at Azadi Stadium

Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani, a 99-year-old Shia cleric residing in Qom, criticized the recent presence of women at the stadium to watch football matches, stating that it is "not an honor." At the same time, Human Rights Watch has urged Iranian officials and FIFA to continue the process of allowing women into Iranian stadiums and to permanently end this "discriminatory" and "superficial" ban. According to Tasnim News Agency, Ayatollah Safi Golpaygani said on Thursday, July 7, during a meeting with the head of the women's seminary school in Qom, known as "Jamiah al-Zahra," that "it is not an honor for women to come to the stadium to watch football; the boundaries between men and women must be preserved." This conservative cleric, who is one of several clerics endorsed by the Islamic Republic, has previously emphasized gender segregation in universities "at any cost necessary" and referred to sending Iranian female athletes to the Asian Games in Guangzhou seven years ago as "a source of shame." Women have been banned from entering stadiums to watch football and volleyball matches for years, but over the past week, after much struggle, women were allowed to watch live broadcasts of Iran's national football team in the World Cup at Azadi Stadium twice. However, this issue drew criticism from several clerics, and the Attorney General labeled it "a source of shame." Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the Attorney General, claimed last Sunday that he had seen videos of women at Azadi Stadium who were "without hijab and dancing and singing" and that events occurred in the stadium that he felt "ashamed" to describe. Montazeri's statements were met with mild responses from some officials in Hassan Rouhani's government, and in the latest instance, Masoumeh Ebtekar, the Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, stated to ISNA that the presence of women at Azadi Stadium was "completely in accordance with religious standards." Tayebeh Siawashi, a representative from Tehran in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, also tweeted that the representatives present in the stadium did not witness the scenes mentioned by the Attorney General. On the other hand, Human Rights Watch has also called for the complete lifting of the ban on women's presence in Iranian stadiums. In a statement released on Thursday, July 7, referring to the two recent instances of women attending Azadi Stadium, it stated: "This experience shows how superficial the justifications for keeping women out of all stadiums have been." Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, has urged Iranian officials and FIFA to ensure that women can freely attend all sporting events in Iran from now on. According to the history provided in the Human Rights Watch statement regarding the ban on women's presence in Iranian stadiums, watching men's football matches has been banned for women since 1981, and this ban was extended to volleyball matches about six years ago. However, after warnings from several Asian and global federations, including the Volleyball Federation, a limited number of women were selectively allowed to attend some volleyball matches in Iran. In recent years, several women's rights activists and social activists have worked to lift the ban on women's entry to stadiums, including sending a letter to FIFA, urging it to compel the Islamic Republic to end the ban on women's presence in stadiums. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran, issued an order in 2006 allowing women into stadiums, but this order was not implemented due to opposition from clerics. Officials in Hassan Rouhani's government also promised to resolve the issue of women's entry to stadiums to watch matches, but this promise has not yet been fulfilled.