This is the story two Iranian women tell, as well as the struggles of millions more.
Sahar Khodayari, 29, went to a match in football on March 2019. Her side, Esteghal, were playing the UAE’s Al Ain in the Asian Champions League, in what was their first home game of the season.
Officially, Tehran’s hulking Azadi Stadium holds 78,000 supporters, though internationals can see over 100,000 cram onto the concrete terraces.
Female fans are not permitted to attend.
Sahar did not give up. Small groups of women disguised themselves as men in order to get into the stadium were prevented from watching their teams after the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
Sahar entered the Azadi, guided by YouTube tutorials in make-up. Her identity was found by security guards, and she was arrested by the police. They took her to Gharchak where she was kept for more than a week in conditions that were unhygienic.
Sahar learned on September 2, 2019 that she would be charged over the 2019 incident. Although there is no law that prohibits women from entering stadiums or mosques, she was charged in violation of Islamic hijab regulations. Maximum two years imprisonment was the sentence.
Sahar ran from the courthouse and set herself ablaze on the steps of the judiciary. After suffering burns to 90% of her body, she died in hospital a week later. Later, an Iranian official denied that she would be facing charges.
Iran mourned her passing. She was immediately dubbed ‘the blue girl’, after Esteghal’s club colours. Shima Babaei was a dissident who fled to Belgium. She remembers Esteghal players writing the name of her on their kit and fans singing her name from the stands. “But gradually, that incident was forgotten,” Babaei tells The Athletic.
