BARRED FROM STADIUMS AT HOME, IRAN WOMEN MAKE A POINT IN QATAR STANDS

To 27-year-old Mariam, the World Cup match ticket was a precious gift. A sports fanatic, she travelled to Qatar from Tehran to catch Iran’s opening game against England, her first live football match. Women are banned from attending men’s matches in Iran. “I’ve never attended a football match in my life so I had to take this chance,” said Mariam, a student who like other Iranian women at the match declined to give her last name for fear of government reprisals. Iran is competing in the World Cup as a major women’s protest movement is roiling the country. Security forces have violently cracked down on demonstrations, killing at least 419 people, according Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has been monitoring the protests. The unrest was spurred by the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s morality police.