An Iranian women’s activist said she was stripped of a banner at the World Cup in Russia on Wednesday and blocked from a stadium for two hours after an earlier demonstration drew international headlines.
Maryam Qashqaei Shojaei said she was held for two hours by security officials at the main stadium in Kazan ahead of the match between Iran and Spain, having planned to raise a banner to protest Iran’s ban on women attending stadium matches.
“When I was trying to get in with my banner security told me I can’t take it in,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Kazan.
“I showed them my approval. They searched me and held me two hours and took the banner.”
Anton Lisin, a spokesman for Russia’s World Cup Local Organizing Committee (LOC), said he was aware of an incident involving Shojaei but had no further details.
A spokeswoman for FIFA said world football’s governing body was looking into the matter as were the LOC and Russian public security authorities.
“We can confirm that banners supporting female presence in the stadiums in IR Iran were approved by FIFA and the LOC through the formal procedure ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and have already been displayed in the match Morocco vs IR Iran in Saint Petersburg,” the spokeswoman said in emailed comments.
“The banners are considered by FIFA to express a social appeal as opposed to a political slogan and were therefore not prohibited under the relevant regulations.”
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