FIFA Urged To Ban Iran Over Prohibition Of Women From Football Stadiums

Following Iran recent ban on women watching international soccer matches, FIFA is seeing petitions to penalize the country and also lude the national team from the 2022 World Cup finals.

AgnesIsika Blog previously reported how about 2,000 women who purchased tickets for Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier against Lebanon in Mashhad, Iran’s northeastern city, were unable to enter the stadium, according to Iranian news sources.

According to some activists, the authorities also deployed pepper spray at close range to disperse women who later protested the prohibition outside the stadium.

Following the incident, the United for Navid group of expatriate Iranian athletes and campaigners has pushed for Iran to be banned from international soccer until it changes its policy.

In a letter to FIFA’s deputy secretary-general, Mattias Grafstrom, the group said, “We formally request that FIFA immediately suspend Iran and prohibit its participation in the World Cup 2022, as long as the Football Federation of Iran continues to violate the Olympic Charter and FIFA regulations.”

Iran had promised FIFA that it would cease its policy of “gender apartheid” by permitting women to attend matches, according to the letter, which AFP received a copy of.

The group stated that “not only has Iran broken that promise by continuing to bar women from entering a stadium, but women are beaten, abused, and threatened.”

It argued that Iran “continues to ignore” FIFA’s requirements to establish “basic adherence” to human rights.

Also, Human Rights Watch has called out to FIFA, demanding that Iran immediately lift its “discriminatory” stadium ban on women and hold perpetrators accountable.

The HRW’s senior Iran researcher, Tara Sepehri, said in a statement, “Given the Iranian authorities’ longstanding violations, FIFA needs to follow its global guidelines on nondiscrimination and should consider enforcing penalties for Iran’s noncompliance.”

Mr. Sepahri pointed out that under FIFA’s statutes, discrimination on the basis of gender is “strictly prohibited and punishable by suspension or expulsion.”

He said, “It is long overdue for FIFA to demonstrate that it is serious in enforcing transparent accountability measures.”

For the first time in over three years, women were allowed to attend an international match in January, for a World Cup qualifier against Iraq that also saw the squad qualify for the finals in Qatar, the allocation for which was held on Friday.