Demanding a Ban on the Iranian Football Team until Stadium Ban is Lifted

In March 2019, 29 year old Iranian woman Sahar Khodayari entered Azadi Stadium in Tehran, with the dream of watching her favorite soccer team, Esteghlal FC, play. The name of the stadium, "Azadi", translating literally to mean "freedom", however "freedom " is the last thing she was to experience that day. Sahar did not enter that stadium as a 29 year old woman, but instead dressed herself from head to toe to appear as a man. Why? Because for the past 40 years, women have been barred from entering stadiums in Iran.
After being forcibly removed from the stadium by men, she was subjected to inhumane conditions in prison, called upon a court of law, and sentenced to six months.

Dehumanization: to subject [someone] to conditions or treatment that are inhuman or degrading, that obscures or demeans that person's humanity or individuality.

In those moments, when Sahar was dragged out of the stadium; when she was subjected to barbaric conditions in a jail imprisoning those convicted of murder; when she sat in a courthouse surrounded by men, as a man told her she would be serving jail time comprable to that of a felon, for something as simple as stepping foot in a stadium. They had done it. They degraded her and stole her sense of humanity and individuality. And whilst burning in front of the steps of that very courthouse- they had successfully dehumanized her.

Since the 1978 Islamic Revolution in Iran, women have experienced a plethora of human rights violations and limitations: Women cannot leave the country without the permission of a male figure, Women cannot choose their clothing, women cannot file for divorce. The list is endless.
But to restrict something so simple, such as prohibiting and incriminating the act of just entering a soccer stadium for the sole purpose of supporting your own country or favorite team. Then it is no longer about a regime, an ideology, or a religion. It's about dehumanization.

To this day, Iran is the sole country in the world that stops and punishes women seeking to enter soccer stadiums. Those in favour of the ban have even go so far as to justify it by arguing that it is inappropriate for women to hear male fans swear at soccer games. But it's not about any of that. It's about extending the plain degrading, humiliating, and dehumanizing narrative that the Iranian government has been pushing upon women for the past 40 years.




FIFA's most recent Code of Ethics states the following:

Persons bound by this Code shall not offend the dignity or integrity of a country, private person or group of people through contemptuous, discriminatory or denigratory words or actions on account of race, skin colour, ethnicity, nationality, social origin, gender, disability, language, religion, political opinion or any other opinion, wealth, birth or any other status, sexual orientation or any other reason.

I hereby, urge FIFA and its president Mr. Infantino, to place a sanction upon the Iranian national team and the national league games, due to their blatant violations of these laws. I urge FIFA to take the necessary legal actions against this prejudicial ban forced by the Iranian government upon Iranian women.

This tragic and senseless loss of life need not be in vain . Ms. Khodayari's sacrifice has already enhanced the dialogue and the conversation surrounding women's rights in Iran.

Sahar did not have a voice, so she expressed herself with the fatal actions she took, which tragically took her life. But you do have a voice. And now, I am urging you to use it. Be the voice for the voiceless.

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