Iran’s Supreme Leader has instructed the government to consider the religious leaders’ views and reverse its decision (on letting women into stadiums)… The government will act based on this instruction…

— Iranian government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham, speaking about the decision by Iran’s top cleric Ayatollah Khamenei to reverse President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent decision to let women attend sporting events at stadiums in Iran.

President Ahmadinejad ostensibly believes that including women in the arena will add a civilizing presence to the events, and citing this rather curious logic, he declared that allowing women and families into public places, including sports stadiums, “promotes chastity.” He therefore declared in April 2006 that women should be allowed, for the first time since the ban was put into effect during the 1979 Islamic Revolution, to attend sporting events in stadiums where men complete.  Incensed, the clerics, led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have ordered that the ban remain in place.

Mimi Hanaoka