In late-breaking “abridgment of basic human rights” news, Iranian women’s soccer captain Niloufar Ardalan will not be present at the Asian Cup, as her husband has decided to invoke his legal, husbandly right to withhold her passport. A woman needs her spouse’s consent to obtain or renew a passport. It was reported that Ardalan’s husband took her passport in a domestic quarrel.
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Ardalan’s husband, sports journalist Mehdi Toutounchi, has reportedly refused to let his wife travel as he wants her to be at home for their seven-year-old son’s first day at school.
Although Hassan Rouhani has served as the current Iranian president since 2013, he has not brought about any changes in the law yet, despite the fact that in 2012 lawmakers in Iran were actually considering altering the legislation hindering women’s mobility. Men do not need their wives’ permission to travel abroad. “I wish a law would be approved that allows female soldiers to fight for raising the flag” stated Ardalan.
“These games were very important to me”, she said. She wrote: “I am only a national soldier who fights to raise the flag of our country”.
During the Islamic revolution in 1979, the government abolished almost all women’s sports.
She is a long time advocate for women’s rights in Iran.
News of Ardalan missing the tournament came Monday, when Iranian news website fararu.com reported that Ardalan wouldn’t be traveling to Malaysia for the Asian Cup, which begins Thursday. But Ardalan, lauded as the best female player in Iran, will miss out. FIFA overturned a yearlong ban against players wearing hijabs in 2012. This hindered foreign competitions because opposing teams refused to wear the head coverings on the field. In 2005, she made headlines for being one of the first women to attend a men’s national team match.
Ardalan’s case and her decision to go public about the travel ban have attracted considerable attention on social media, where many have condemned her husband’s refusal to allow her to compete in the tournament.
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“This just shows to what extent this law can impact a woman’s life”, Sadr toldRFE/RL.
