Attack on Women Outside Mashhad Stadium with Pepper Spray; “We Were Following Orders from Tehran”

Without naming women specifically, he only said that “incidents” outside the stadium “are being investigated and the results of investigations will be made known to the public.”

Mojtaba Tavanger, a parliament member, tweeted: “Girls bought tickets to watch football, but pepper gas was their share! These actions have no result other than financial damage inside and outside. I will submit a question to the sports minister at the first opportunity.”

Jalal Rashidi Kochi, another parliament member, also held the Ministry of Sports responsible and threatened to “raise my question on Sunday, April 14th, regarding the bitter events at Mashhad stadium.”

Fateme Rahmani, Mashhad’s representative, also called the violence against women “incidents” and identified the Ministry of Sports as responsible.

However, while these three members held the Ministry of Sports responsible for preventing women from entering the stadium and the violent treatment toward them, Ali Motahari, a former parliament member, tweeted: “It is shameful for the Islamic Republic that tickets for the Iran-Lebanon match in Mashhad are first sold to women and then their entry is prevented and some are treated with pepper gas. Instead of condemning the Taliban’s treatment of women, we are imitating their behavior.”

The current parliament members’ claim about the Ministry of Sports being responsible came as cyberspace users in their reactions to the incident wrote that these incidents go beyond the Ministry of Sports’ will.

Cyberspace users, while criticizing the Ministry of Sports’ decision to hold this match in a religious city like Mashhad, also wrote that this incident will undermine the Islamic Republic’s “plan” to deceive FIFA regarding free entry of women to stadiums to watch football.

The Iranian Football Federation committed to FIFA that women would enjoy equal rights with men under FIFA rules to purchase tickets and enter stadiums, but only a limited number of women have been selectively allowed entry to stadiums.

Many users after last night’s match asked FIFA to abandon appeasement with the Iranian Football Federation and impose sanctions on Iran’s football from international matches due to the Islamic Republic’s “misogynistic structure.”

Ali Mojtahedzadeh, a lawyer, also tweeted that “pepper spray is considered a ‘cold weapon’ and according to the law, its use by officials of armed forces is only dependent on meeting specific conditions and circumstances.”

He added: “Which of these conditions applies to the gathering of women who had previously purchased tickets to enter the stadium that pepper spray was sprayed in their faces? Does NAJA have documented justification for taking this action?”

The use of pepper gas against women has also faced opposition from Hezbollah supporters on cyberspace.

Vahid Ashtari, from users known as “justice-seekers,” while posting a video of veiled women kicking the stadium door in protest after male officers used pepper gas, wrote: “The most Hezbollah-like Twitter users who since yesterday swear more intensely than revolutionaries and the veiled women in this video who have been gassed and are kicking the stadium door have a strange symbolic aspect. The groups closest to the establishment express their opposition to official policies by kicking.”