Until When Will Stadiums Remain Closed to Women?

Once again, the request for the presence of Iranian women in stadiums is being raised, and once again, the case of Bahareh Heydari is being pursued, a case that legal experts say is unfair and illegal. A listener of Radio Farda stated: "Do you really think that the main problem in our country is the presence of women in stadiums? It is not at all. You are seriously mistaken. Our main problems are much greater than this." Human rights activists and women's rights activists do not seem to agree with this listener. Recently, it was reported that the UN Human Rights Watch has called on the International Volleyball Federation to remove Iran from hosting the World Volleyball Championships due to its prohibition on the presence of women and girls in stadiums. Iran is set to host the World Volleyball Championships in Tehran next year. Hadi Ghaemi, spokesperson for the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, told Radio Farda: "Human Rights Watch has launched a broad campaign in support of Iranian women's request to attend sporting events, particularly in volleyball stadiums, which has been a widespread issue in Iran for the past few years. Specifically, Human Rights Watch, in collaboration with various organizations including our own, the International Campaign for Human Rights, is requesting the International Volleyball Federation to fulfill its promise made last year that men and women should have equal rights to watch sporting events and that stadiums should be opened to women in volleyball." Last July, Shahindokht Molaverdi, Deputy of Hassan Rouhani for Women’s Affairs, called on women to remain silent and calm in their efforts to attend stadiums, promising that the government would address the issue: "I prefer not to speak on this matter. Let these competitions be held quietly. They are certainly looking for solutions and providing the necessary infrastructure and management for the issue. The government does not intend to abandon this issue or erase the problem. This is an issue that must be resolved." Requests for changes to passport laws and sending women to obtain consent from their husbands, requests for increasing women's quotas in the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections, requests for women's participation in the Assembly of Experts elections... These days, officials of the Islamic Republic are facing multiple and diverse requests from women’s movement activists. However, as Sudeh Rad, an equality activist, told Radio Farda, the request for women's presence in volleyball stadiums has a longer history and does not represent a new demand from Rouhani's government: "This discrimination against women has a three-year history. Previously, women could easily and freely enter stadiums to watch volleyball and basketball and similar sports. This is a new precedent. What women’s rights activists and even ordinary people have wanted in recent years is for all women to be present and that there be an invitation for a specific group to enter the stadium as spectators, which does not meet their demands." Nevertheless, all experts are not optimistic about the success of these activities and requests. Mehdi Rostampour, a sports expert at Radio Farda in Denmark, believes: "What is certain is that this has not been effective so far. Neither in volleyball nor in any other sport. If this happens from now on, it will certainly make many sports enthusiasts in Iran happy. However, it will only make them happy if it opens the way for women to enter the stadium. But in general, non-sporting institutions, including political, human rights, NGOs, and organizations, have no impact on the decision-making of global federations in various sports. The highest authority that can do this is the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which can request this from its member federations. And if it does, it will not be limited to one or two specific sports; it will include all sports where women should be allowed to enter stadiums. Unless, considering that this institution is under the United Nations, it can at least be covered in such a way that it compels Iran to make a different decision in this regard." Despite all this, optimism remains. Not only women’s rights activists but also human rights activists hope that a change will occur in the status of women in Iran. Hadi Ghaemi, spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign: "I am very optimistic in this regard. The International Volleyball Federation is an organization that has committed itself in its charter to equal rights for women and men. Even in this regard, it agreed a few months ago. It just did not follow up. With the start of this campaign and the widespread pressures that we expect to follow, the International Volleyball Federation has no other choice; otherwise, it will violate the Olympic Charter and its own charter, and I do not think it can defend itself in this regard or show any reaction." The UN Human Rights Watch also referred to Niloufar Ardalan in its statement. Niloufar Ardalan was recently unable to participate in the Women’s Futsal Championship in Malaysia due to her husband’s refusal, and the Human Rights Watch has deemed such actions a clear discrimination against women and called for an end to them in Iran. This request comes as the ISNA news agency reported that the Director General of the Legal Affairs Office of the Vice Presidency for Women and Family Affairs has sent all requests related to amending the passport law to the legal vice presidency for their opinions, and all these issues will be examined legally and jurisprudentially in the legal vice presidency. Ashraf Gharami Zadegan considers the first issue for amending the passport law to be the reform of the service passport section so that, according to her, no one can prevent Iranian women from participating in international gatherings. A noteworthy point in Ms. Gharami Zadegan's remarks is the attention to the fact that this center, the Women and Family Affairs Center of the Presidential Institution, cannot close the doors on women's demands. Perhaps these glimmers of hope have led to another campaign in support of Bahareh Heydari, an activist of the women's movement and student movement, being noticed by another group of activists. We are joined by Mahdieh Javid, a lawyer and communications director of the Alliance for Iran. Ms. Javid, can you tell us why you chose Bahareh Heydari among all the imprisoned women in Iran for this petition? Mahdieh Javid: "Unfortunately, our prisons are full of individuals and activists who have worked for the improvement of political and social conditions in Iran or have different opinions and lifestyles. Bahareh Heydari has been active in student and women’s movements since years before the Green Movement. She has been arrested several times before and has had multiple cases against her. Unfortunately, it has only been due to her peaceful activities. At the time of her arrest, she was the only female member of the Central Council of the Office for Strengthening Unity and the only member of the One Million Signatures Campaign, which was held in support of women's rights protests in 2006. We had several reasons for choosing Bahareh, but the most important one is that the conditions of her arrest and imprisonment are not only illegal but also unfair. Bahareh was arrested just one day before her wedding day. All the guests were invited, and the wedding plans were set, and Bahareh was arrested. Now, her detention in prison seems more than anything to be a personal vendetta of the Tehran prosecutor, and they are trying to make an example of Bahareh for other activists. She has been in Evin Prison for nearly six years. When, according to the law and the judge's ruling, she should have been released, she was kept in prison for another six days, and then, in another illegal act, the two-year suspended sentence she received nine years ago was enforced. Ms. Javid, you mentioned that this recent ruling is illegal. Why do you consider this ruling illegal? Mahdieh Javid: "Even if we assume that the initial court ruling was legal and fair, which we believe it was neither fair nor legal, Bahareh should have been released after the application of Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code in her case. However, instead, she was kept in prison illegally. The enforcement of Bahareh's suspended sentence after her release order was issued is illegal. The court should have decided on Bahareh's suspended sentence from the very beginning, six years ago, as is the case in other cases. However, unfortunately, the Iranian judiciary has a selective approach, which is contrary to the principle of uniformity of procedure, one of the judicial principles. We believe that peaceful activities, whether based on Iran's international commitments and the conventions it has signed or based on domestic laws, should be completely permitted and no restrictions should be placed on activists and their activities. Unfortunately, we see that any activity that has a critical aspect is dealt with under the pretext of national security." Despite all this, Ms. Javid, how does your campaign operate, and what will its outcome be? Mahdieh Javid: "This petition was initiated by Bahareh Heydari's husband, Amin Ahmadian. We have helped him a bit in this process, and it has been done with the support of Amnesty International. In this way, we managed to gather 105,000 signatures for this letter in the last two weeks. We will try to collect more signatures for this letter and send it to Mr. Khamenei's office." Do you think sending a letter to the official authorities of the Islamic Republic with any number of signatures will be successful? "Yes, definitely. Because we hope that Mr. Khamenei will be able to listen to the voices of 105,000 people."