Restrictions for Iran’s Women’s Futsal Player; Unveiled Photos Abroad Result in Permanent Exclusion from National Team

Shiva Amini, an Iranian women’s futsal player, says that due to posting unveiled photos from outside the country, she has been permanently removed from the national team by the football federation authorities and security officials.

This futsal player posted a photo of herself along with an explanation stating, “We tolerate all this silence and patience, we play with tight and strict hijabs just like mummies so we can win medals, and we keep saying it doesn’t matter.”

Regarding the reason for her removal from the national team, she said: “I made every effort to try to clear my path through contact and communication with the women’s federation and security so I wouldn’t be excluded because of the hijab, but these only empty people’s hearts and they say we have no private life—when you were a national player, you had to wear the hijab even secretly on your personal page. It’s cruel.”

The statements of this Iranian women’s futsal player have been met with a response from the Iran Football Federation. In a statement, the federation claimed that she has not been a member of the national team since 2010 and her removal was not due to not wearing a hijab.

Ms. Amini did not mention in her Instagram post when exactly she was removed from the national team, but in response to the football federation’s statement, she said she would release all conversation files with security officials and federation representatives so you can see what matters to them behind the scenes and what pressures exist.

Hijab is Not Mandatory Outside Iran

Is there a legal prohibition against Iranian female athletes appearing without hijabs outside of Iran?

Some civil activists and artists, including Taraneh Alidoosti, have shared Article 638 of the Islamic Penal Code regarding mandatory religious hijab, which states that the hijab has no applicability outside the country.

Nevertheless, Iranian sports decision-makers treat female athletes who do not wear a hijab abroad accordingly.

Some female athletes say that security and intelligence agencies have summoned them after their presence abroad and have sometimes treated them for not wearing a hijab, or even for wearing a loose hijab.

The Ongoing Story of Female Athletes and the Hijab

Mandatory hijabs for female athletes and their appearing unveiled outside the country have repeatedly led to confrontations between Islamic Republic sports federations and athletes.

In Farvardin, the Iran Bowling and Billiards Federation banned several female billiards players for one year from competing for what it called non-compliance with “Islamic proprieties.”

Last Esfand, Dorsa Derakhshani, a chess player who competed without a hijab in the Spanish chess championships, was also banned from participating in Iran’s national team.

Source: Voice of America