A female soccer fan in Iran, who disguised herself as a man so that she could enter a stadium to watch her favorite team play, committed suicide by setting herself on fire after she was facing jail time over the stunt.
30-year-old Sahar Khodayari set herself on fire last week after she learned of her possible prison sentence that stemmed from a March incident in which she pretended to be a man to enter a stadium to watch her favorite team, the Esteghlal Tehran Football Club. Women are forbidden from entering soccer stadiums in Iran but they can attend volleyball games.
Khodayari died of her injuries at a Tehran hospital Monday, the semi-official news agency Shafaghna reports. The avid soccer fan has since been deemed the “Blue Girl” on social media for the colors of the Esteghlal team. She was wearing a blue hairpiece and a long overcoat when authorities stopped her at the stadium, NY Post reports. After spending three nights in jail, she was released pending the court case.
The team mourned Khodayari’s death in a Monday tweet.
“She supported us despite the politics made it illegal for her, but what we do can do to support her?” the tweet said. “ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. We are cowards.”
Iran’s minister of information and communications technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi called the death a “bitter incident”, the outlet adds.
In a tweet, female lawmaker Parvaneh Salahshouri called Khodayari “Iran’s Girl.”
“We are all responsible,” she wrote.
Khodayari had reportedly tried to take her live once before at her university, NY Post reports.
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