Rights organizations have urged Fifa to exclude Iran from this year’s World Cup after the government forbade women from attending matches there.
The organization Open Stadiums questioned why Iran was permitted to compete when “Iranian women remain kept out of our ‘Beautiful Game,'” according to officials.
The request was made a few weeks after female spectators were permitted to watch a domestic game for the first time since 1979.
The rights organization, however, doubted that stadiums would continue to welcome women.
According to Open Stadiums, in an available letter to Fifa President Gianni Infantino, “Iranian women do not believe the Islamic Republic’s government or the Iranian Football Federation that the Azadi stadium will stay open to them after the Fifa World Cup 2022 closes on December 18.”
Additionally, it makes the case that anyone who travels to Qatar to watch matches runs the danger of running afoul of Iranian authorities due to concerns that state spies may be keeping an eye on attendees.
The letter notes that banning women from games violates international football regulations and demands that Fifa “immediately remove Iran from the World Cup 2022 in Qatar.”
Iranian news outlets speculated that women were admitted to the game in August as a result of Fifa writing to the authorities urging them to let more women enter stadiums.
Fifa earlier assured the BBC that it will “focus its attention” on the problem.
Although there isn’t a formal ban, women rarely attend sporting events in Iran since they are frequently turned away.
Due to clerical opposition under the Shia Muslim regime, women had practically been banned from domestic matches where males were playing before this. Few international games have had female spectators, including one in March of this year, according to news agency Reuters.
The rights organization, which works to ensure that all Iranians have access to sports, also asserted in the letter that members of the football squad traveling to Qatar later this year had been forbidden from speaking out about the deadly protests that are roiling the nation.
They were brought on by the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman, while she was being held by the morality police.
According to the letter, she was abused and brought to the same prison facility where she died whenever female football fans attempted to attend a game.
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