Iranian Paralympic champion's travel ban lifted
Iranian media reported that the travel ban on Iranian Paralympic champion Zahra Nemati has been lifted. Her husband had banned her from leaving. Zahra Nemati is an archery champion and the flag bearer of the Islamic Republic of Iran's convoy at the Rio Olympics.
On Wednesday, May 10, ISNA news agency did not release further details and only reported the lifting of the curfew, citing a member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly's Cultural Commission.
On Monday, May 8, Roham Shahabipour, Zahra Nemati's husband, told ISNA news agency that her husband left home after the Rio Paralympics and filed for divorce.
According to Article 18 of the Iranian Passport Law, a married woman can only receive a passport with the written consent of her husband or with the permission of the prosecutor of the city where the passport is being applied for.
Zahra Nemati, a member of Iran's national archery team for the disabled, is one of the few athletes in the world to have won gold medals at both the Paralympic and Olympic Games. She was the flag bearer for Iran at the Rio Olympics.
Ms. Nemati's husband is also an athlete on the disabled archery team.
This is not the first time that female athletes have been banned from leaving their homes due to disagreements with their husbands. In September 2015, Niloufar Ardalan, captain of the Iranian women's futsal team, was unable to attend the Asian Women's Cup after her husband banned her from leaving.
She wrote on her Instagram page that her husband did not allow her to leave the country to participate in the Asian Women's Football Championship because she insisted on attending their child's first day of school.
Iran is one of the countries where women are not allowed to travel abroad without their husbands' permission. This law is one of the laws that has been protested by women's rights activists and is considered discriminatory against women.
Darya Safaei, a women's rights activist, said in an interview with the Persian service of Voice of America: "In the laws of the Islamic Republic, a woman is recognized as a being who needs a guardian and supervisor; this guardian is the father before marriage and after that, the woman's husband."
The United States has repeatedly criticized the Islamic Republic's discriminatory laws and policies against women.
Two years ago, Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations, criticized Iran’s membership in the board of the UN Gender Equality Body. She cited the lack of legal permission for women to hold certain government positions, the lack of a law against domestic violence, and the existence of a stoning penalty in Iranian law as among the factors that make it completely inappropriate for Iran to assume a leadership role on women’s welfare and rights at the UN.
Meanwhile, Shirin Ebadi, a lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize winner, told the Persian service of Voice of America that what the US representative to the UN has listed about gender inequality in Iran is only a small part of these inequalities and the neglect of women's rights.
Source: Voice of America
