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Iranian women attend FIFA World Cup qualifier after being allowed to enter a stadium for the first time in decades

Iranian women attend FIFA World Cup qualifier after being allowed to enter a stadium for the first time in decades

Iranian women have attended a FIFA World Cup qualifier in Tehran after being freely allowed to enter a stadium for a men's match for the first time in decades.

Women have effectively been banned from stadiums when men are playing since just after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

BBC News reports the change followed the death of a fan who had set herself alight after being arrested for trying to attend a match.

But Amnesty International described the move as a "cynical publicity stunt".

The human rights organisation said there were only a "token number" of tickets for female fans as it called for all restrictions on female attendance to be lifted.

More than 3,500 women bought tickets and were granted access to a special women's-only section of the Azadi Stadium.

The stadium has a capacity of about 78,000.

The tickets for women reportedly sold out within minutes.

BBC

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