Iranian women feeling at home in Qatar

Doha: To 27-year-old Mariam, the World Cup match ticket was a precious gift. A sports fanatic, she travelled to the World Cup from Tehran to catch Iran’s opening game against England, her first live soccer match.

Women are banned from attending men’s matches in Iran. “I’ve never attended a football match in my life so I had to take this chance,” said Mariam, a student of international relations who like other Iranian women at the match declined to give her last name for fear of government reprisals.

Iran is competing in the World Cup as a major women’s protest movement is roiling the country.

Security forces have violently cracked down on demonstrations, killing at least 419 people, according to the Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has been monitoring the protests. The unrest was spurred by the September 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s morality police. It first focused on the state-mandated hijab but has morphed into one of the most serious threats to the Islamic Republic. ap

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