Iranian chess player was warned not to return to Iran after competing without hijab

IMAGE : Iranian chess player, Sara Khadem at a FIDE tournament. Photograph: Lennart Ootes/FIDE

Iranian chess player Sara Khadem has been ‘warned not to return to Iran’ after competing without hijab in last week’s FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan, reported The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH).

The 25-year-old player arrived in Spain on Tuesday after receiving what a source close to her said were warnings not to return to Iran for competing without a hijab – a headscarf mandatory under Iran’s strict dress codes.

The source, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, said Khadem later received several phone calls in which some people warned her against returning home after the tournament, reported SMH.

The source also said Khadem’s relatives and parents, who are in Iran, had also received threats, without giving further details.

However, Iran’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.

The phone calls led to organizers

deciding to provide security with the cooperation of Kazakh police, resulting in four bodyguards being stationed outside Khadem’s hotel room, the source said.

Since the start of anti-government protests in September, Khadem is the most recent athlete to compete without a hijab.

According to the International Chess Federation, the chess player was born in 1997 and is currently ranked number 10 in Iran among active players worldwide (804th overall).

The protests in Iran were triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the police force.

Women have played a prominent role, removing and in some cases burning headscarves, while protesters have taken heart from what they have seen as shows of support from both female and male Iranian athletes, reported SMH.

Earlier, Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi competed in South Korea earlier in October without wearing the required hijab, later explaining that it had fallen off inadvertently. It’s not clear, though, whether Rekabi was coerced into saying what she did.

According to CNN, Iran’s deputy sports minister Maryam Kazemipour, in a statement said earlier that athletes who violated Islamic principles afterwards “regretted” their behaviour and “are searching for a chance to make up for their error.”