The recent strong performances by Iran's national volleyball team against world volleyball giants Brazil, Italy and Poland thrilled Iranians, but once again “half of the society” was deprived of its rights. The ban on Iranian women entering stadiums for the national team's games once again caused an uproar in society as police forces didn’t allow women to attend the International Federation of Volleyball (FIVB) World League games in Tehran.

Police dispersed women’s rights activists and female volleyball fans who were gathered in front of the entrance of Azadi Stadium when Iran played Italy in the first leg on June 20. According to eyewitness reports, some were beaten and detained.

“First slap, second slap, and a third one inconceivably I received in the face and, surrounded by 10 agents and plainclothes men and women, was beaten and pulled on the ground harshly to a police van,” Shargh daily reporter Fatemeh Jamalpou wrote on her Facebook page. Jamalpou went to the stadium to cover women protesting against the ban. “I closed my eyes for a second, saying should it be a dream, or a nightmare, but it was bitter reality that happened today in front of the western gate of Azadi Stadium before the volleyball game between Iran and Italy.” Jamalpour was kept in custody for six hours and then released.

The ban originally came after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran as mixed crowds enjoying games was deemed un-Islamic. Some clerics, including those in Iran, strongly object to free mixing between men and women. Gender segregation falls under Islamic jurisprudence and insists on separation of men and boys from women and girls in social settings.