A British woman has been held in an Iranian prison for more than two months — for daring to watch a men’s volleyball game.
Ghoncheh Ghavami was arrested with more than a dozen women in June for trying to enter a Tehran stadium where the Iranian national men’s team was competing with Italy, according to the UK Independent.
The women had been protesting to be allowed inside the men’s section, despite the Middle Eastern country’s rule prohibiting mixed crowds watching sports since the players are not considered to be “fully dressed,” according to the UK Mirror.
Ghavami was released from custody days later, but was re-arrested and locked up in Tehran’s Evin jail, which is notorious for holding political prisoners and journalists.
The 25-year-old aspiring lawyer, who has dual Iranian and British citizenship, called her family in tears that she had been placed in solitary confinement for 41 days, her heartbroken brother told ITV News.
“(The family) can barely hold themselves together,” said Iman Ghavami, 28. “They are torn apart – not just my parents but my grandparents, my uncles, everybody.”
A Facebook page called “Free Ghoncheh Ghavami” has garnered more than 9,000 likes, and the hashtag with the same slogan has picked up on Twitter. There has been an outpouring of support.
“I applaud your bravery, I pray they release you soon, and that it makes a difference in raising awareness of the plight of women in your country,” wrote AnneMarie Huenink.
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office is reportedly looking into Ghavami’s imprisonment, but has not made any statements.
Supporters of the ban on women watching men’s games, introduced after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, have said it is needed to shield women from lewd behavior.
“In the current conditions, the mixing of men and women in stadiums is not in the public interest” said Iran’s head of police, Esmail Ahmadi Moghadam, according to the Fars news agency. “The stance taken by religious scholars and the supreme leader remains unchanged, and as the enforcer of law, we cannot allow women to enter stadiums.”
