Iranian Chick Goes To Jail For Attempting To Go To A Men's Volleyball Game

PZ Feed - A British-Iranian woman has been sentenced to one year in prison for attempting to go to a men’s volleyball game, her lawyer has said. 25-year old Ghoncheh Ghavami was found guilty of “propagating against the ruling system, according to her lawyer Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei, the Independant reports. Tabatabaei claims he has seen the text of the verdict, but is still waiting for the official sentencing. He has not commented any further. Ghavami, a budding lawyer with both Iranian and British citizenship, was detained in June at a Tehran’s Freedom Stadium after trying to attend a men’s volleyball match between Iran and Italy. Women are banned from attending male-only matches in Iran and Ghavami tried to enter the match with around a dozen other women to protest the ban, according to Amnesty International. Women who sought to attend the World League match in June were reportedly turned away from the stadium. Female photographers inside the complex were ordered to leave though none were arrested. Ghavami was held for a few hours and then released but she was detained again a few days later and transferred to Tehran’s notorious Evin jail, which is known for holding political prisoners and journalists. She began a hunger strike earlier this month over her detention, Amnesty says. Her brother, 28-year-old Iman Ghavami, said she rang her family in tears saying she had been put in solitary confinement for 41 days. “The family can barely hold themselves together,” he told ITV News. “They are torn apart – not just my parents but my grandparents, my uncles, everybody.”

I cannot think of a single worse trade off than this. The absolute last thing I would go to jail for is attempting to watch a mens volleyball game in Iran. We always get hypotheticals on KFC Radio like “Would you spend a year in prison for…” and I almost always say no. Theres almost nothing in this world I would accept in exchange for a one year prison sentence. Like you could flaunt a billion bucks in front of me and I still wouldn’t go to the clink. And this chick is willing to go to the slammer to watch a bunch of Iranian dudes bump, set and spike? I mean I appreciate your conviction and I know its all about the principle of the matter, but lets aim a little higher. Lets at least start with not having to wearing a bed sheet every time you’re in public or being allowed to have jobs and shit. Id have to imagine watching mens volleyball is like at the VERY BOTTOM of the Iranian women’s rights movement.