Iranian chess player Sara Khademalsharieh. Image: Instagram/saraa_khadem
Dubai: Iranian chess player, Sara Khadem arrived in Spain on Tuesday after she was warned not to return to Iran.
Khadem, 25, made headlines last week for competing at a tournament without hijab.
She had participated at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
A source familiar with the developments told Reuters that following the tournament, Khadem received multiple calls from Iran warning her against returning home, while others said she should come back and promised to “solve her problem.”
The source also mentioned that authorities have been threatening her relatives and parents too.
Has Sara Khadem moved to Spain?
Spanish newspaper El Pais reported last week that Khadem had planned to move to Spain with her family – husband and child – due to fear of reprisals.
It however remains unclear whether the family has obtained a residency in the country or if they plan to seek asylum. Notably, reports suggest that the couple owns a house in Spain.
Organisers of the tournament, following the phone calls, have agreed to provide security to the chess player with the cooperation of Kazakh police. Four bodyguards have been stationed outside Khadem’s hotel room.
Anti-hijab protests in Iran
Nationwide protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini have entered the new year with two Iranian teenagers now facing death penalty after being charged over their involvement in the protests.
An Oslo-based human rights group called Iran Human Rights says that at least 100 people in Iran have been arrested and are facing charges punishable by death since the unrest began in September 2022.
Several women have been at the receiving end of one of Iran’s harshest crackdowns.
In October last year, Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi was similarly threatened for competing without her headscarf. However, weeks later she returned to Tehran after she apologised and said that her hijab had accidentally slipped from her head.
Activists, however, say that her comments had been made under pressure from Iranian authorities.
In the same month, videos of an Iranian archer named Parmida Ghasemi emerged on social media that showed her headscarf falling from her head during an award ceremony in Tehran. Ghasemi later said that she had not realised that her hijab had slipped.
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