United Nations demand explanation from Iran over arrest of woman for attending FIVB World League match in Tehran

By Paul Osborne at the Aspire Dome in Doha

Wifried Lemke wrote to the Iranian embassy in Geneva following the arrest of British-Iranian citizen Ghoncheh Ghavami ©DohaGOALS Forum

Wifried Lemke wrote to the Iranian embassy in Geneva following the arrest of British-Iranian citizen Ghoncheh Ghavami ©DohaGOALS Forum

Wilfried Lemke, special adviser of the secretary general of the United Nations on Sport for Development and Peace, has demanded an explanation from the Iranian Government in Geneva on the imprisonment of British-Iranian citizen Ghoncheh Ghavami, he revealed here.

Lemke has written to the Iranian Embassy in Geneva following the imprisonment of Ghavami asking them to explain the arrest "because it's absolute not the way that we want to deal with women in sports".

Speaking here at the Doha GOALS Forum, Lemke, former manager of Bundesliga football club SV Werder Bremen and Bremen's former Senator for Education and Science, claimed it is "incredible that this lady, if it is just with the fact that she was demonstrating for the rights of women, that she must go to prison."

Ghoncheh Ghavami is on her second hunger strike for being sentenced to a year's prison sentence after attending an FIVB World League match in Tehran ©Facebook

Ghoncheh Ghavami is on her second hunger strike after being sentenced to a year's prison sentence for attending an FIVB World League match in Tehran ©Facebook

Lemke added: "Immediately when I read this story I get in touch with the [Iranian] Embassy in Geneva and we're still waiting for an explanation because it's absolute not the way that we want to deal with women in sports.

"Of course we must respect some cultural backgrounds but on the other hand we cannot accept that Iranian women will now be punished with one year going to prison only because she said will join the match of the Iranian because she wants to cheer her team.

"And it's so absolutely clear for my personal point of view that we will try to change this and we will do it in a very appropriate way because we are diplomats from the UN, we cannot take a tank, we just have to do it with good argument and I hope for a change with or through communication."

Ghavami, a 25-year-old law student based in London, was arrested on June 20 after attending an International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) League match, and was held for over 120 days at the Evin Prison in Tehran before news of her sentence emerged.

Her lawyer claimed on Sunday (November 2) that she has been sentenced to one year behind bars, although an official verdict remains still to be given.

This comes after a 25-year long rule banning women from attending football matches in the Islamic nation was extended to volleyball in 2012, although Iranian officials claim she was detained for spreading "propaganda against the regime" rather than directly for attending the match.