Iranian activist Maryam Shojaei on women's stadium ban protests and arrest by morality police

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Iran’s religious establishment had barred women from attending football matches in stadiums for the majority of the past 40 years. Shojaei was a key cog in the movement to overturn that ban, which was partially achieved for national team matches in 2023. She was part of organising protests outside games, negotiating with FIFA, and raising awareness of the inequality internationally. However, significant barriers to entry remain, with access to both club and international matches highly limited. Football has traditionally been a conduit for protests in Iran, with the national team refusing to sing the anthem on several occasions over recent decades, including during the 2009 Green Movement and after the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the morality police in 2022. Last month, several members of Iran’s women’s team claimed asylum in Australia, having been threatened by the regime for failing to sing the anthem ahead of their opening game of the AFC Asian Women’s Cup — all but two subsequently returned to Iran after facing significant pressure and threats from the state. These threats are something Shojaei and her family know all too well — her brother Masoud, who is retired from playing, has had his assets frozen by the Iranian regime over recent weeks — while their neighbourhood was bombed by the US-Israeli offensive. Her debut book, Azadi Means Freedom: Fighting for Gender Equity Through the World’s Most Popular Game, was released in the United States on April 14. This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Maryam, it’s so great to speak. Firstly, I hope that you and your family are safe. You discuss in the book how your childhood was dominated by the Iran-Iraq War, with your father serving in the Navy… Maryam Shojaei: “War is a big part of my life. And you know, I’ve been embarrassed to promote the book when this is happening, I don’t want to post on Instagram to say: ‘Look at this, look at my book’. When I wrote it, I never thought we’d be going through another war. I thought it was from the past. Our neighbourhood has now been bombed twice, but the trauma always stayed with me. “Now, you’re thinking about surviving, not about civil rights and improving the situation because it’s a matter of life and death. So it means I’m embarrassed to bring my book up, because we’re thinking less of football, less of women’s rights. I didn’t think there would be an ongoing war.” Football has always had a relationship with protest in Iran, whether in the Green Movement or during the Mahsa Amini protests, and we’ve seen that in recent months with the Women’s Asian Cup. But why does that relationship exist? Shojaei: “The players felt that they had to. They had the support of the nation. They felt they owed it to people, so even the smallest gesture — by wearing the green bracelet in the Green Movement, by not singing the anthem — goes a long way because their voice is so strong. “It’s something that separates us from the stereotype that the rest of the world knows about Iran. This is our opportunity to show our real selves and be together. And that’s why, in recent years, there have been limited fans in attendance, because society has the potential to explode. “The government is afraid of crowds — they don’t even want men in the stadium anymore — of people getting together. It’s something they try to avoid at any cost.” One thing I had not appreciated is that the ban on women attending games was not a religious ban, but a political and social one. You describe visiting the house of two clerics who make this quite clear, so what is the state’s reason for not allowing women to go? Shojaei: “Exactly. It’s to do with how authoritarian regimes work. They will say it is culturally sensitive or a religious issue, but in reality, women accessing stadiums is something they don’t want to give up, because if you give up on this, then what comes next? “Because social activists and women’s rights activists have demanded it, they fear appearing to have ceded to them. So that was actually partly why I started the campaign, it was a civil resilience practice. I had some leverage because of my family, and I thought this could give the women’s rights movement some confidence. If we can change this, we can change other things.” Your brother, Masoud, was playing in the national team at this point, even captaining them, yet you weren’t allowed to watch them play. The first time you protested was in 2015, when you watched him in Australia while holding a banner. Later, you describe how he brought his team-mates to meet you and hear about the campaign. Shojaei: “He’s nine years younger than me, and never to this day have I known a man who was as much of a feminist as him. He told me it was embarrassing for him to play somewhere that women were not allowed, so he was so happy when I started this campaign. “But he’s still paying the price to this day. The regime confiscated all of his assets last week. And if Masoud wasn’t so supportive, I don’t know if we could have gone anywhere with the activism.” You spoke in the book about feeling guilt for how your activism has subsequently affected Masoud, but also describe how he has repeatedly told you not to feel that way… Shojaei: “To be honest, I still feel that way. There are so many people who have also supported the movement, so I’m worried that it (his assets being frozen and how he has been treated) is connected to my book and the way he’s supported me over the years, resulting in the end of the ban. So I spoke to him two days ago, and I told him: ‘I’m so sorry, I heard the news’. “And he told me: ‘Are you crazy? Do you know how many people lost their lives? My assets aren’t more important than that; this is nothing compared to what people have lost’. “You know, my hope is that the world has a chance to get to know this new generation. It’s very unfortunate that the world knows Iran from violence and repression. I hope there is a way.” But you’ve suffered as well. Could you tell me about what happened in 2019, outside the Azadi Stadium, during the Iran vs Syria match? Shojaei: “I was in Iran again after having been abroad, and our group was going to the Azadi Stadium. I just went, without plans to protest, because I didn’t want to be somebody who lives abroad and tells people what to do. I went there, took my phone, and took a picture of the sign. I didn’t even see the vans that were there, far away from us. “A man came towards me, he was in plain clothes, and he told me: ‘Give me your phone’. I asked why, put my phone in my bag, and he tried to snatch it. In Islam, a man is not allowed to touch a woman, so three women then came towards me dressed in black. They began to struggle with me because I didn’t let it go, and I began to scream. I wanted to make a scene because I thought it might make them stop. “My sister was around the corner with my mother, because there was nowhere to park, and she ran towards me. They dragged me towards the van to take me to the morality police station, the exact same place they took Mahsa Amini (a 22-year-old woman who died after being severely beaten by the morality police in 2022 after being detained for wearing a headscarf incorrectly). “When I saw my sister, I wanted to end everything, but she would not let me get inside the van with them. She stood in front of it, screamed, but they pushed and kicked us until she was lying down in the van and I was in there with her. “I’ll never forgive myself for that; she’s 17 years younger than me, she’s like a kid compared to me. There were two female officers on each side of us, and we were begging them to let us out. We drove for like three hours. “It was Iran vs Syria that day and Masoud was playing. Another of the girls in the group managed to get a message (to the police) that the sisters of the captain had been detained. They were arguing in the car because some wanted us to go free, and others wanted us to go inside the station. Eventually, they let us go.” At this point, you had been protesting for five years. You had met Fatma Samoura, then the second-most powerful figure at FIFA. Had they been helping? Shojaei: “At this point, I was more angry with FIFA than the Iranian government. When you deal with the Iranian government, you know what you’re dealing with. “There was one day when Gianni Infantino entered the stadium on the same day that 35 girls were arrested (in 2018). That was a slap in the face. He still tries to take credit for stadiums beginning to open up in Iran. But it was all Iranian women — and some pressure from FIFA’s sponsors.” Why did FIFA have a duty to intervene? Shojaei: “It’s about FIFA enforcing their own rules. We were so hopeful, after the scandal involving Sepp Blatter in 2015, that the new administration would show the work that they’re able to do. We didn’t ask for much.” So when did things begin to change? I understand, as well, that there are still problems for women in stadiums… Shojaei: “The day I was arrested, I took pictures of my sister’s bruised body and sent it to friends at Human Rights Watch and Moya Dodd, who was on the FIFA Council. Moya was in Paris for the Women’s World Cup (in 2019), and Infantino was there. She took her phone and showed it to Infantino, and said: ‘This is the woman who came to FIFA headquarters and saw Fatma Samoura holding a petition with 200,000 signatures. They were arrested, so enough is enough’. A few days later, Infantino sent a letter asking for Iran to allow women into stadiums with a deadline. “That September, the Blue Girl passed (Sahar Khodayari, a supporter who set herself on fire after being caught disguising herself as a man to sneak into the Azadi Stadium), and that put even more pressure on FIFA to follow up. This was the only concrete social change in Iran, and there has been improvement; city by city, women have been going to stadiums. “But the government aren’t happy with the result and don’t want to accept it, so they now don’t even allow men to go to stadiums.” Were you surprised by anything that occurred at the Women’s Asian Cup? Your brother had similar pressure put on him by the national team after disobeying instructions and speaking out. Shojaei: “The Iranian federation is not independent of the state. They put pressure on these players in their own way, not by arresting them, but by putting pressure on their family, by putting them on state television, and asking them to confess to something. You can’t imagine what the mental pressure is in that situation. “My brother faced a similar situation when he was playing for a club side in Greece. (He chose to play for Panionios against Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv, against a government edict.) They did not call him up for the national team for eight months — and when they called him up, that was only because of Carlos Queiroz, who was not Iranian, and who said he needed him. But they still held a grudge against him.” Do the people want Iran to participate in the World Cup this summer (Participation by the men’s team in the upcoming men’s World Cup is still uncertain)?  Shojaei: “It’s a hard question to answer. Some people don’t believe the current players support the ordinary people. It used to be the case that football unifies us, but now, football is something that divides us because people say: ‘These celebrities had the platform and power to support us — especially when thousands were killed during the protests (earlier this year)’. “So that means some people are now against them — I think non-Iranians might not understand that.” One thing that struck me is that if the state can treat the then captain of the national team and their family like this, just how vulnerable are others who do not have those connections at all? Shojaei: “Exactly. My sister and I were released after three hours because somebody knew we were related to the captain, and the state knew that would be difficult. But Mahsa Amini didn’t have that luxury. The Blue Girl didn’t have that luxury. So that’s why I believe that it’s our duty to tell these stories. “I didn’t even know if I wanted to translate this book to Farsi because people might say: ‘Oh, you’re so brave’. No, I’m not, not compared to girls who are basically in high school who are basically fighting on the front line (against a repressive regime).” FIFA have been contacted for comment but had not responded by the time of publication. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms