In response to a question on whether the cultural basis for the presence of women in sports facilities is ready, Iran’s Minister of Justice, Mostafa Pourmohammadi said: “First of all we have values and religious norms and we are sensitive about them. Fortunately the general feeling of the society is completely positive, meaning that the society’s expectation is that we, as a religious system must uphold religious rules and our laws come from those religious rules. Then we have to see how much our Sharia law allows the presence of women!”
Referring to the issue that Iranian women protested that fans of the rival team were allowed in the stadium, he said: “Religiously, they have no problem and they have no problem to participate in sports. Why should we cause limitations for them? Anyway, they do not abide by some rules and we do.”
(State-run ‘Etemad’ daily – June 25, 2014)