RFERL:

While Iran is preparing itself for the second batch of Washington's sanctions against Tehran, the country's prosecutor-general has triggered a new heated debate over the question of women being allowed to attend stadiums to watch soccer matches.

Women watching footballers "leads to sin," Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, speaking in the city of Qazvin, said on October 14. "I object to the presence of women in Azadi Stadium yesterday. We are a Muslim state, we are Muslims. We will deal with any official who wants to allow women inside sports venues under any pretext."

State-run Mehr News Agency (MNA) quoted Montazeri as stressing, "When a woman enters a stadium and sees half-naked men in sports jerseys, it will lead to sinful acts."

The day before, in a warmup friendly soccer match between Iran and Bolivia in Tehran, a strictly limited number of handpicked women were allowed to enter the stadium and cheer their national side.

Apparently, under pressure from the International Football Association (FIFA), Iranian authorities allowed nearly 100 women, most of them soccer players and close relatives of the footballers playing against Bolivia, to enter the venue.

Local news outlets described these female spectators as "special ladies."

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