Iran to probe suicide of female soccer fan amid uproar

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s judiciary has been asked to investigate the death of a woman soccer fan, state media says, after she reportedly self-immolated because she feared imprisonment for trying to enter a stadium.

The country’s vice president for women and family affairs, Masoumeh Ebtekar, asked the judiciary chief to look into the case in a letter, the state-run Iran newspaper reports.

Sahar Khodayari, 30, was arrested last year when she tried to go into a stadium dressed as a man to watch her favorite team, Esteghlal FC, the Varzesh 3 sports news outlet said, citing her sister.

Dubbed “blue girl” because of Esteghlal’s colors, she set herself on fire outside the court last week upon hearing from someone there that she would be going to prison for six months, it said.

The judiciary’s Mizan Online website says no sentence had been issued since there had been no trial and the judge was away on holiday.

The death of Khodayari sparked an outcry online, with many calling on world soccer’s governing body FIFA to ban Iran from international competitions and for fans to boycott matches. Pictures said to be of her in hospital covered in heavy bandages have been shared widely on social media.

Iranian soccer legend Ali Karimi urged his 4.5 million Instagram followers to boycott stadiums until further notice.

“The women of our land are better than men,” he wrote alongside an image of a woman with a soccer ball for a heart and flames over her head.

— AFP