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A British-Iranian woman who was arrested in Tehran after trying to attend a volleyball match has been sentenced to one year in jail, her lawyer was reported as saying Sunday.
Ghoncheh Ghavami, a 25-year-old law graduate from London, who was detained in June at a Tehran stadium where Iran’s national volleyball team was to play Italy, went on trial last month.
“According to the verdict she was sentenced to one year,” her lawyer Alizadeh Tabatabaie was quoted in Iranian media as saying, noting that the judge had shown him the sentence.
But no reason was given for the conviction.
Iranian officials have said Ghavami was detained for security reasons unrelated to the volleyball match. So far she has been held in the capital’s notorious Evin Prison for 126 days.
The “Free Ghoncheh Ghavami” Facebook page where her friends and family campaigned for her release features photographs of her against the slogan: “Jailed for wanting to watch a volleyball match”.
An update on the page on Sunday appeared to corroborate the one year sentence but bemoaned the closed-doors legal process that has prevailed in the case.
“This morning Ghoncheh’s family and lawyer returned empty handed from branch 26 of Revolutionary court,” it said.
“It is not clear to her family and lawyer as to what the current legal basis of her detention is. A fair and just legal process according to Iran’s legal framework is the basic right of every Iranian citizen. Why are these rights not upheld in Ghoncheh’s case?”
Ghavami’s arrest came after female fans and even women journalists were told they would not be allowed to attend the volleyball match at Azadi (”Freedom” in Persian) stadium in the capital.
National police chief General Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam said it was “not yet in the public interest” for men and women to attend such events together. “The police are applying the law,” he said at the time.
Women are also banned from attending football matches in Iran, with officials saying this is to protect them from lewd behaviour among male fans.


British woman jailed for a year in Iran after trying to attend volleyball match

British-Iranian dual citizen Ghoncheh Ghavami was jailed for a year by an Iranian court after she attempted to attend a volleyball match. Photo: Facebook

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