A British-Iranian woman was arrested in Tehran for attending a men’s volleyball game and asking for women to be able to go to such matches. An Amnesty International, UK, petition, being widely shared on social media stated that Ghoncheh Ghavami was imprisoned in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison just for asking for women to be able to go to volleyball matches.
The petition asked for signatures in support of Ghoncheh’s release. She’s on hunger strike in protest at the conditions of her detention – she hasn’t been allowed to see a lawyer, and is being kept in solitary confinement without legitimate charges, it said.
Meanwhile, the Telegraph reported that a trial date has been set for her. The report in the Telegraph said Ghoncheh, a 25-year-old law graduate of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), will stand trial on October 14, according to her lawyer.
She was arrested after she and fellow women’s rights campaigners tried to enter Tehran’s Azadi Stadium to watch an Iran-Italy volleyball match, it said and added that “under the country’s restrictive Islamic codes, women are forbidden to mingle with male spectators at sports facilities”.
Ghoncheh has spent 103 days in prison, of which 41 days were spent in solitary confinement.
