Mahsa Ghorbani fled his country, fearing for his safety after being appointed to officiate a men’s match last March. The referee was forced to step down from that role soon after.
Iranian media reported Monday that the threats included potential road accidents and acid attacks.
“Few people would have imagined that Mahsa Ghorbani, one of Iran’s most promising referees, would choose to emigrate,” the Hammihan newspaper said, to which the 34-year-old referee confirmed that she had moved to a European country not specified.
In early March, it was announced that Ghorbani would be the first woman to be part of a refereeing team in a men’s Football match in Iran, although her role was limited to video assist duties at refereeing (VAR).
A few days later, the Iranian Football League Organization announced his dismissal to avoid “possible controversies.”
In her statements to Hammihan, the young 34-year-old referee revealed that “security agencies” had threatened her with acid attacks to force her to give a “scripted” interview in which she had to renounce her involvement in the refereeing of the match between Esteghlal and Persepolis, the biggest derby in Iranian and Asian football.
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“Initially, they politely asked me to withdraw from the match. Then they asked me to write a letter stating that I was neither mentally nor emotionally fit to officiate,” Ghorbani explained in an interview with media outside Iran.
“After that, they asked me to stand in front of a camera to say that I was sick and that I couldn’t officiate,” she continued.
When she refused all these demands, the threats intensified, including road incidents and acid attacks.
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Ghorbani explained that they did not want her to officiate at VAR because that would be the first step: “They told me: today you will be in the VAR room, tomorrow you will officiate on the sidelines, and the next day you will be in the center of the field. »
For 40 years, the Islamic Republic of Iran did not allow women to attend stadiums, a taboo that was broken in 2019 during a match between Iran and Cambodia, which saw the presence of 3,500 women, under pressure from FIFA.
