Doha. Jeff, Goran, and the rest of their Swedish-Iranian party are stopped by the guards before Iran meets England.
The reason is that they wore T-shirts with the message “Women, Life, Freedom” – after which they were kicked out of the arena.
“People tried to take pictures and videos of us, of our faces,” Jeff says.
“Women, Life, Freedom” is a political slogan with Kurdish roots. Recently, the words were used to commemorate the death of Jenny Mohsa Amini, an event that sparked huge protests in Iran for women’s rights.
In Doha, it is not uncommon to come across posters, T-shirts and flags bearing the message, which is a clear stance against the Iranian regime.
Ahead of England’s meeting with Iran, Sportbladet met Sumi, 40, who broke down in tears when she tried to explain why it was so important to show “women, life, freedom”.
We cannot believe that they are killing children on our streets. Sumi, who was later photographed inside the plaza holding a banner, said that the women wanted their freedom back.
I had to change clothes
It doesn’t go well for Goran, Jeff and their counterparts when they try to enter Khalifa International Stadium while wearing T-shirts with the words “Women, Life, Freedom” printed on them.
– When we were going through the security check we noticed they started calling the guards. Goran says other guards than those who were already there.
Then the other guards came and we had to take off our shirts. I myself had another T-shirt under it, so I had to put it on. But the rest of the party had no clothes and had to leave the area to change clothes.
Did you get any explanation?
– No, no, nothing.
Jeff tried to talk to some of the other guards.
– They said it was an order from FIFA. He says we were not allowed to wear such shirts or flags.
Take pictures of faces
Inside the arena, they engaged in conversation with other spectators who managed to smuggle out banners and T-shirts. After the encounter, which England won 6-2, unpleasant things began to happen.
People tried to take pictures and videos of us, of our faces. Especially on Goran because he’s not Iranian, Jeff says.
– They came and asked “Where are you from” and “Why are you walking around in a shirt like that” and asked for names.
The community can’t know for sure what the images were used for, but they can guess at an explanation.
– They were ordinary people among all the other spectators, but they were wearing Iranian T-shirts with Iranian flags on them. They followed Goran out of the ring. It just felt like they just wanted to take pictures of people wearing those T-shirts for them to find, Jeff says.
Goran thought the situation looked troublesome.
– I can’t really say what that means, but if I go to Iran… I don’t know, he says.
‘Nobody mourned in Iran’
A few days later, the party went to Spain against Costa Rica in T-shirts – and got in without any problems.
– Another thing that was strange inside the square (in Iran meeting England) was that it was full of people from other countries, says Jeff.
– India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh… They had Iranian flags with them and when I asked them where they bought them, they said they got them for free.
Despite the great loss, Goran, Jeff, and the rest of the group weren’t particularly disappointed. The flight to Doha was bought before the protests began to spread and Team Melli no longer felt like their country’s national team.
– I don’t think anyone in Iran is sad, it’s not the law of Iran. Jeff says it’s the law of order.
– some are happy. But 70-75% of people in Iran don’t even watch the matches. They don’t care if the team advances or not. Four years ago, in the last water cycle, it was the other way around. But now much more important things are happening in Iran.
So the purpose of the trip became to draw attention to the Iranian people and their struggle.
We just wanted to be the voice of the victims in Iran. Jeff says I love football but I will never watch their matches again.