Iran’s Mahsa Ghorbani, A Pioneering Women’s Football Referee, Left Iran For Sweden Because Of Death Threats, Interrogation
New Age Islam News Bureau
14 January 2025
· Iran’s Mahsa Ghorbani, A Pioneering Women’s Football Referee, Left Iran For Sweden Because Of Death Threats, Interrogation
· Pakhshan Azizi The Kurdish Woman On Death Row Took Part In 2022 Protest Movement, IRGC Outlet Says
· Scarves Over Headscarves, Muslim Women’s Outdoors Group Tackles Snow Tubing In Minnesota
· Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai: Taliban Don't See Women As Human Beings
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/iran-women-mahsa-ghorbani-sweden/d/134332
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Iran’s Mahsa Ghorbani, A Pioneering Women’s Football Referee, Left Iran For Sweden Because Of Death Threats, Interrogation
By SaeedehFathi
13 Jan 2025
Mahsa Gorbani working as an international football referee [Courtesy: Mahsa Gorbani]
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For years, Iran’s Mahsa Ghorbani, a pioneering women’s football referee, stood resiliently against social and government restrictions, until she no longer could, and left her home country for Sweden in December.
Born in 1989, Ghorbani’s first experience as an Asian football referee was at the under-14 tournaments. In 2017 she was recognized by FIFA as an elite international referee.
In July, she made sports history as the first Iranian woman to referee an international football match when she officiated the U20 CAFA Championship match between Tajikistan and Afghanistan in the Kyrgyz city of Jalal-Abad.
Previously Ghorbani officiated in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup and 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and also men’s matches in the second division league of the Maldives.
However, the tide turned against Ghorbani when she was appointed as a video assistant referee (VAR) official to monitor a men’s match involving Tehran’s two largest sides, Esteghlal and Persepolis, played on March 13, 2024.
In the days leading up to the high-profile Tehran derby match, she faced widespread official opposition in Iran and her name was removed from the referee list by the Iran Football Federation (IFF) just 48 hours before the fixture, despite support from FIFA, world football’s official governing body.
After facing death threats, insinuations of staged car accidents and acid attacks, and repeated interrogations by the IFF, Ghorbani made a momentous decision to leave Iran.
In a telephone call with the Iran Football Federation’s communications and public relations officer, the organisation was given the opportunity to comment on Ghorbani’s specific allegations of mistreatment. Al Jazeera’s reporter was told that the federation had no comment and that they should not call again.
In this interview, Ghorbani speaks candidly about her love for football, anger at the injustices she faced as a female football referee in Iran, and her hope for a brighter future.
Al Jazeera: Mahsa, why did you decide to emigrate to Sweden?
Mahsa Ghorbani: I reached a point in refereeing where I was one step away from the FIFA World Cup 2022, but the Iran Football Federation (IFF) removed me, under pressure from other [internal] institutions. After the World Cup, there was the Tehran derby incident. They turned officiating a football match into a death threat. They are afraid of giving women space to grow.
One time they said: “Today, you officiate in the VAR room, tomorrow you want to referee on the sidelines, and the day after, you want to be the main referee on the field!” I always wanted to stay and succeed [as a referee] under Iran’s name, but I reached a stage where I faced death threats and realized there was no more room even for one step forward.
Al Jazeera: What threats did you face and from whom?
Mahsa Ghorbani: A few days before the [Tehran derby] match, officials tried to find any justification to bring me to the football federation. When I went there [to the IFF], they switched off my phone and took it. They also said my bag would be kept outside the room.
When I entered the room there were two security representatives and several federation officials present, and they locked the door.
At first, they politely asked me to withdraw from officiating the match. Then they asked me to write a letter saying I was not mentally and psychologically fit to referee this match. Finally, they asked me to sit in front of a camera and say that I was too ill to do it.
Al Jazeera: Why did the Iran Football Federation ask you to do this?
Mahsa Ghorbani: Their [IFF’s] issue wasn’t with the media or the people of Iran. They just wanted a document to present to FIFA to prevent political interference in sports. I did not comply with their demands. However, I later learned that a letter – which I did not write or sign – had been sent by the Federation to FIFA stating that I, Mahsa Ghorbani, due to suffering from a severe illness, was not fit to officiate the Tehran derby.
l Jazeera: What happened when you refused to write this letter?
Mahsa Ghorbani: They [the IFF] started to use my attire in international matches as an excuse. They asked me to admit in writing that I did not wear the appropriate attire.
Essentially, they wanted me to say that I was “undressed” and intentionally displayed myself. They even threatened me. They said: “If you leave through this door, they will kill you, for example, in a staged accident, so it’s better to cooperate.”
They threatened me multiple times with acid attacks. But my response was always the same: “I would rather die than live without dignity.”
Al Jazeera: What do you wear in international matches?
Mahsa Ghorbani: In most matches, I appeared without a hijab, and despite the pressures, I often said “no” to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s mandatory hijab, meaning I wore the same approved referee uniforms as all referees.
However, when the pressure increased and for the sake of my family’s peace, I wore beige-coloured support socks and hats in some matches.
Al Jazeera: Why didn’t you abide by the approved Iran Football Federation uniform, like other female referees in Iran?
Mahsa Ghorbani: Back then, I felt that this was a step towards freedom for Iranian women and progress towards equality.
In these years, I always had conflicting emotions. Even now, as I recount these events to you, I feel a mixture of happiness and sorrow.
On the one hand, I smile because I managed to fight; but on the other hand, I am sad that we have to fight for the simplest rights that other girls around the world enjoy.
Al Jazeera: One of your dreams was to participate in the FIFA Men’s World Cup. Are you still pursuing this goal?
Mahsa Ghorbani: Participating in the World Cup and international tournaments has always been one of my main goals, and I am still striving to achieve it. I will continue on this path with even more motivation.
I always told those around me that one day, in a major tournament, in an important match, I would enter the field without a mandatory hijab and represent the women of Iran.
I will not spare any effort until I reach this goal. It is important for me not only to elevate my own name but also to proudly represent Iran on the international stage. Every time I think about this, my heart beats faster with excitement because I want to have a place in the hearts of my people.
Source: aljazeera.com
https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2025/1/13/death-threats-interrogation-why-football-referee-mahsa-ghorbani-left-iran
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Pakhshan Azizi The Kurdish Woman On Death Row Took Part In 2022 Protest Movement, IRGC Outlet Says
13 Jan 2025
A Kurdish Iranian woman on death row took part in a nationwide protest movement which started in 2022, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) news outlet said, muddling the official narrative on her conviction for alleged armed separatism.
IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported that Pakhshan Azizi allegedly entered Iran illegally in 2023 aiming to “create unrest in universities on the anniversary of the 2022 protests.”
The report added that Azizi met with the family of Hadis Najafi, a 23-year-old protestor who was fatally shot in the heart, abdomen and neck during a demonstration in Karaj on September 21, 2022.
The report said that Azizi's actions were intended to "advance the enemy's objective of stirring unrest in universities and inflaming the national mood."
The 2022 protests, which marked the largest challenge to the Islamic Republic in its nearly 50-year history, began in September when a young woman Mahsa Amini died after being arrested for allegedly failing to comply with Iran's mandatory hijab laws.
Iranian authorities responded to the protests with lethal force, with security forces killing at least 550 demonstrators, including dozens of children and arresting tens of thousands, according to rights groups.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei blamed the United States and Israel for the protests, calling them riots engineered by Iran's enemies and their allies in his first public remarks on the unrest.
Azizi was sentenced to death in July of last year on charges of armed rebellion against the state and sentenced to four years in prison for alleged membership in the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), which she and her lawyers have denied.
Tasnim, which is well-sourced among security forces, and other outlets linked to the establishment repeated the accusations and had not highlighted her activism.
Her lawyer announced last week that the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence, dismissing an appeal that highlighted multiple investigative flaws and the absence of credible evidence.
Rights groups have described the trial as a sham, denouncing the Supreme Court’s decision and calling for her release.
“During her detention, Ms. Azizi was denied legal counsel, subjected to severe psychological and physical torture, including five months of solitary confinement and prolonged interrogation sessions designed to extract false confessions—a routine tactic used by the Islamic Republic to convict peaceful activists of bogus national security crimes,” US-based rights group Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement.
Amnesty International condemned Iran's Supreme Court for upholding Azizi's conviction and death sentence, describing her trial and punishment as unjust.
A coalition of more than 100 Kurdish civil society and rights activists issued a statement on Monday, calling for the immediate annulment of Azizi's death sentence and a comprehensive review of her case.
Last week, sixty-eight political prisoners across multiple Iranian prisons also sounded the alarm over the imminent execution of three fellow inmates, including Azizi.
Source: iranintl.com
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202501132383
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Scarves over headscarves, Muslim women’s outdoors group tackles snow tubing in Minnesota
January 13, 2025
Nawal Hirsi, right, goes snow tubing with her family as part of a group promoting outdoors activities by Muslim women, at Elm Creek Park Reserve in Maple Grove, Minn., on Jan. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Giovanna Dell’Orto)
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MAPLE GROVE, Minn. — Ice crystals clung to the eyelashes, parka hood, beanie hat and headscarf of Ruqayah Nasser as she took a break after her first-ever snow tubing runs in a Minnesota park on a subzero (-18 Celsius) January morning.
She had joined two dozen other members of a group founded by a Somali-American mother in Minneapolis to promote all-seasons activities among Muslim women, who might otherwise feel singled out in the great outdoors, especially when wearing hijabs.
“They understand my lifestyle. I don’t have to explain myself,” said Nasser, who recently moved to the Twin Cities from Chicago and whose family hails from Yemen. “My religion is everything. It’s my survival kit.”
As one of the most visible signs of the Muslim faith, hijabs often attract controversy. Within Islam, some women want to wear the headscarves for piety and modesty, while others oppose them as a symbol of oppression. In the sports world, including in the last Olympics, devout athletes have often faced extra hurdles on and off the field in finding accommodations for religious practices.
Concerned about safety as a woman — particularly one wearing a head covering — but determined to get outdoors to beat seasonal depression, Nasrieen Habib put out a social media post about creating a hiking group three years ago.
From the nine women who responded, her Amanah Rec Project has grown to more than 700 members. There’s a core group for Muslim women only — for “more sisterhood and modesty,” Habib says — as well as a group for families. In addition to weekly outings, they organize longer trips and education on everything from appropriate winter clothing — a challenge for many migrant communities — to health and environmental sustainability from the perspective of Islam.
“It’s a way to live your whole life according to a set of beliefs and rules. And part of those beliefs and rules is taking care of creation,” Habib said as her 4-year-old son took a break from tubing in a toasty chalet at Elm Creek Park Reserve near Minneapolis. “How can we be more sustainable in a time where we see the impact of climate change, especially impacting people who look like us in the Global South?”
Two sisters, RuunMahamud and Nawal Hirsi, moved to the United States from Somalia as children about two decades ago.
They found a safe haven in Minnesota where, since the late 1990s, growing numbers of East African refugees have created an increasingly vocal Muslim community. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar was the first lawmaker to wear a hijab while on the U.S. House floor, and Minneapolis was the first large city in the United States to allow the Islamic call to prayer to be broadcast publicly by its two dozen mosques.
Even though she feels “safe and accepted” in her hijab, Hirsi joined the group for extra support.
“I love being outdoors and joining this group has made me more comfortable to participate,” she said on the tubing hill, where she had convinced Mahamud to come along for the first time.
“Oh my gosh, it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever done,” Mahamud gushed after speeding downhill on a tube attached to her sister’s as their daughters recorded the adventure on their phones.
The sisters said it’s important to include love for the outdoors and physical activity in their children’s religious upbringing.
“Taking care of one’s health is part of our faith,” Hirsi said.
Muslim women who wear hijabs can face multiple barriers to sports participation, said Umer Hussain, a Wilkes University professor who studies religion and sports. They range from activities where genders mix or head coverings pose logistical hurdles to conservative families who might frown on it.
Groups like Habib’s tackle empowering women in their communities as well as raising awareness about religious accommodations like single-sex spaces or locations for prayer.
“The biggest barrier, for women specifically, is having access to spaces that allow us to practice our religion while keeping our modesty and abiding by the Islamic laws that tell us we are not supposed to be in mixed spaces without covering up,” Habib said.
She appears to have tapped into a great demand.
“When she told me she was going to start a hiking group to get sisters out in nature … it was like actually something I’ve been looking for for a very long time,” Makiya Amin said as she climbed up the tubing hill in a long white skirt, bright-red headscarf, and heavy winter coat. “I didn’t really have those type of people who were outdoorsy already around me.”
Isho Mohamed joined the group for the wide-ranging conversations as much as for the outdoors, which as a self-described “homebody” she had largely avoided since college days.
“It’s a safe space that takes me out of my comfort zone,” she said of the group outings. During them, the women share about work experiences but also life as immigrants and, most importantly, their faith.
“We also talk about spiritual connection and connecting with God as well, and just say a little prayer here and there when we’re walking,” Mohamed added.
Her cheeks glowing above her ski mask after two hours on the hill, JoridaLatifi was with her 7-year-old son among the last to hang up their snow tubes. Originally from Albania, Latifi has gone out with the group almost weekly since joining more than a year ago.
“With Muslim sisters … they do understand you, what you go through, even with the clothing and hijabs,” Latifi said. “It feels way, way more like, you know, where you are with family.”
Source: twincities.com
https://www.twincities.com/2025/01/12/scarves-over-headscarves-muslim-womens-outdoors-group-tackles-snow-tubing-in-minnesota/
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Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai: Taliban Don't See Women As Human Beings
Jan. 13, 2025,
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai decried the state of women’s rights in Afghanistan as “gender apartheid” Sunday and urged Muslim leaders to speak out against the Taliban government’s repressive policies on women and girls' education.
“Simply put, the Taliban in Afghanistan do not see women as human beings,” she said in Islamabad at a summit on advancing girls’ education in Islamic countries, organized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Muslim World League.
Yousafzai, the Pakistani education activist, added there was “nothing Islamic” about the government’s policies, which ban teenage girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade and women from attending university.
Yousafzai, 27, also urged the attendees, who included dozens of ministers and scholars from Muslim countries, to “openly challenge and denounce” the Taliban by recognizing gender apartheid as a crime against humanity under international criminal law.
“In Afghanistan, an entire generation of girls will be robbed of its future,” she said. “As Muslim leaders, now is the time to raise your voice, use your power.”
Gender expert GaisuYari, a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, told NBC News that “Malala took a bold step by engaging with Muslim leaders, understanding that their influence could have a significant impact when addressing the Taliban.”
Afghan representatives did not attend the summit.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid declined to comment, saying, “We don’t want to comment on Malala Yousafzai’s remarks about us.”
The Taliban have said they will use their own interpretation of Afghan culture and Islamic law, known as Sharia, to guide their policies on women’s rights.
Afghanistan is the only country that bars women and girls — nearly 1.5 million Afghans — from accessing secondary and higher education.
Since they swept back to power in 2021, the Taliban have systematically stripped women and girls of their fundamental rights by passing laws that restrict access to education, work and freedoms of movement and speech.
Last month, they banned women from training as midwives and nurses, effectively ending women’s only available access to further education and putting women’s and children’s lives at risk.
They passed another order this month that prevents residential buildings from having windows where women can be seen while they are at home.
For women, living in Afghanistan is “akin to living in a prison” Yari said.
No foreign government has formally recognized the Taliban because of their restrictive stance on women, while the United Nations has repeatedly denounced the government.
While gender apartheid has not yet been formally codified in international law, women’s activists, experts and the women’s movement in Afghanistan contend that the Taliban’s rule over the past three years has shown clear characteristics of the practice, Yari said.
Legal experts define gender apartheid as the “systemic, institutionalized discrimination and segregation of individuals based on their gender, designed to maintain male dominance by controlling women.”
In September 2023, the international legal expert and civil society representative Karima Bennoune told the U.N. Security Council that “what has been tried since the Taliban returned to power is not working” and urged the U.N. to wield all available measures to induce the Taliban to reverse its course.
She added that codifying the crime into international law would be one of the most effective ways to do so.
Source: nbcnews.com
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/taliban-not-see-women-human-beings-malala-yousafzai-says-rcna187355
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/iran-women-mahsa-ghorbani-sweden/d/134332