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10 September 2019Sahar Khodayari didn't make it. She died to claim a right that has been missing in Iran since 1981, or the freedom for women to go to the stadium to watch a football match. She had tried the same last March 12, against the law, disguising herself as a man, but because of a selfie sent to her sister, the 29-year-old girl was discovered and stopped by the Iranian authorities.

After two days of detention and mobile phone seizure, she went to trial in September accused of contempt of shame. Sentence: six months in prison. In front of the court in the capital, Tehran responded by setting herself on fire, becoming a human torch. After days of suffering, hospitalized with 90% body burns, Sahar Khodayari died this morning, as reported by Radio Farda.

She was a supporter of the Esteghlal football team, a militant in the Persian Gulf Pro League, Iranian Serie A. Among other things, the Tehran club is coached by the Italian Andrea Stramaccioni, a few days ago stopped by the Iran airport police for an expired tourist visa. Very strange thing for someone who has been working there for 80 days and who has a work permit. Then everything worked out for the best. Instead the issue of women in stadiums is a political struggle that has been going on for many years.

In Iran, only men can go to the stadium. Women since 1979, the year in which the Islamic revolution took place led by Imam Ruhallah Khomeynī who established a democracy with theocratic tendencies, have lost their rights. In the 1980s, specifically in 1981, women were forbidden to enter the stadiums. Some openings came only for large-scale events, where Iran decided to show a better image of itself. He did it for example in the World Cup in Russia 2018 where the women went away to follow the national team and did it in the Asian Champions League final last November, where the Iranians of the Persepolis, Tehran team, played, dedicating a sector only for women with invitation.

The case of the death of the young Sahar has rekindled the controversy. In recent days, MEP Parvaneh Salahshouri has launched several appeals to raise awareness against discrimination against women in the Islamic Republic. The captain and activist of the Iranian national football team, Masoud Shojaei, condemned "the medieval heritage that keeps women out of the stadiums and creates dramatic consequences". Shojaei in the summer of 2018, during the World Cup in Russia, declared after a competition played with his national team in Kazan: "For the first time they can see me playing my mother and my sisters live".

The path towards opening the stadiums to women seemed to be downhill, but the road is still difficult and uphill, despite Fifa pushing to recognize the right to the fans.

Saha's crime was trying to enter soccer stadium in Iran. She protested her 6-month sentence by self-immolating, and today she tragically died. What will it take for Iran's male athletes to protest enmasse and @ FIFAcom to prohibit gender apartheid? https://t.co/gjsLTDk1jJ pic.twitter.com/vAg4azHAaR

- Karim Sadjadpour (@ksadjadpour) September 9, 2019