Two Iranian chess players compete in international tournament without headscarves

(28 Dec 2022)
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Almaty – 28 December 2022
1. Various of Iranian chess player Sara Khadem playing chess
2. Various of Atousa Pourkashiyan, chess player from Iran representing the US in the competition, playing chess
3. Wide of participants playing chess at tournament
4. Khadem playing chess
5. Chess pieces on chess table
STORYLINE:
Two Iranian chess players on Wednesday competed in the World Rapid and Blitz Championships in Almaty without headscarves.

Sara Khadem and Atousa Pourkashiyan followed other Iranian public figures in abandoning the hijab.

Pourkashiyan, who is from Iran, was representing the United States at the tournament.

The headscarf, which is necessary under the Iranian Islamic dress code, became the focus of unrest against Iran’s government.

Iran’s nationwide protests erupted in September after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini detained by the country’s morality police for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code for women.

The protests have since transformed into calls for the overthrow of Iran’s ruling clerics, presenting one of the most durable challenges to the theocracy since the chaotic years following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

At least 506 people have been killed and 18,000 arrested in the government’s crackdown, according to human rights groups in Iran.

Even public figures who have expressed solidarity with the movement, including Taraneh Alidoosti, one of the country’s most famous actresses, have been swept up in the dragnet.

Iran’s main union for film industry workers, House of Cinema, reported on Tuesday that 13 actors were in jail over the protests.

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