Outrage follows death of Iranian fan
Woman set herself on fire after learning she could be jailed for attending match
DUBAI, U.A.E.— An Iranian woman detained for dressing as a man to sneak into a soccer stadium to watch a match has died after setting herself on fire upon learning she could spend six months in prison, semi-official news outlets reported Tuesday.
The self-immolation death of 29-year-old Sahar Khodayari has shocked Iranian officials and the public, becoming an immediate hashtag trend across social media in the Islamic Republic.
It also comes as FIFA is working with Iranian authorities to overcome a ban on women entering stadiums for men’s games that has been in place since the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. FIFA wants the issue resolved before Oct. 10, when Iran — the top-ranked team in Asia — hosts its first home World Cup qualifier against Cambodia.
FIFA said Tuesday it was “aware of that tragedy and deeply regret it.”
“FIFA conveys our condolences to the family and friends of Sahar and reiterate our calls on the Iranian authorities to ensure the freedom and safety of any women engaged in this legitimate fight to end the stadium ban for women in Iran,” the organization said in a statement.
Khodayari died Monday at a Tehran hospital after suffering burns across 90 per cent of her body. She had been on a respirator since dousing herself with gasoline in front of Tehran’s Ershad Courthouse on Sept. 2, according to the Iranian news website Rokna, which publishes in Iran with government permission.
She had just learned she could be tried by a Revolutionary Court in Iran and be put in prison for six months, her father told the website.
Khodayari’s sister told Iran’s pro-reform Shahrvand newspaper that her sister suffered from bipolar disorder. Her father said she stopped taking medication a year ago.
Prominent lawmaker Ali Motahari, who is close to Iran’s relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani, tweeted that Khodayari didn’t deserve prison time, and offering her “some advice” would have been enough.
In March, Khodayari tried to sneak into Tehran’s Azadi Stadium to watch her favourite team, Esteghlal, take on the United Arab Emirates team Al Ain. As in other matches, she disguised herself as a man by wearing a blue wig and a long overcoat, gaining the nickname Blue Girl. However, police arrested her after an altercation and she was detained.
She spent three nights in jail before being released pending the court case. She reportedly returned to the court to retrieve her seized phone and heard she could face prison time.
News of her death ricocheted across Iran on Tuesday, with tributes hashtagged “BlueGirl.”
Female lawmaker Parvaneh Salahshouri called Khodayari “Iran’s Girl” and tweeted: “We are all responsible.”
Hard-liners and traditional Shiite clerics, citing their own interpretation of Islamic law, believe in segregating men and women at public events, as well as keeping women out of men’s sports.
However, that has drawn criticism from human rights activists. Amnesty International said as far as it knows, “Iran is the only country in the world that stops and punishes women” seeking to enter soccer stadiums.