A senior Iranian official said a limited number of women will be allowed to watch Volleyball World League games in Tehran later this month as it lifts a ban on Iranian women attending male sporting events. Vice-President for Women and Family Affairs Shahindokht Molaverdi says that the government seeks to avoid a showdown with hard-liners with its decision.
The ban attracted worldwide attention last year over the >detention of a British-Iranian woman trying to attend a men’s match . While Iran’s judiciary has said her case was linked to her work with the opposition, the FIVB which oversees world volleyball, called for her release.
Women generally have been banned from games since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, though foreign women can attend matches of their national teams.
