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Iranian women protest being barred from stadiums

The international men's volleyball league match between Brazil and Iran brought Iranians out to protest the ban on women spectating in stadiums.
Tehran, IRAN:  An Iranian woman watches a training session of Iran's national football team from behind a fence as females were not allowed to enter the stadium at Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) sport complex, 22 May 2006. Iran's supreme leader has vetoed an order by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to end a 26-year-old ban on allowing women in stadiums for major sporting events, the government said earlier this month. Last month Ahmadinejad ordered an end to a decades-old ban on women entering stadiums for major sp

Brazil’s national volleyball team beat Iran 3-2 at Tehran’s Azadi stadium June 15 in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World League. However, what made headlines in the Iranian traditional and social media is the gathering of activists and fans against the ban on women entering the stadiums. The unfairness of the rule was thrown into particularly stark relief as Brazilian women with Brazilian passports were allowed to enter to watch the match.

Among the more than 50 protesters were well known activists Jila Baniyaghoob and Atefeh Nabavi, who stood outside the stadium with Iranian flags. Other Iranians wrote on the FIVB International Volleyball Federation's Facebook page that Iranian women were not allowed to attend. 

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