THOUSANDS OF IRANIAN WOMEN PETITION FIFA TO WATCH GAMES

AKI - Some 100,000 Iranian women have signed a petition sent to world football's governing body FIFA to pressure the Iranian government to scrap a law which bans women from going to stadiums to watch matches. "We've been trying for over a decade to convince the Islamic Republic's leaders that it is our right to enter stadiums to watch games," Nasrin Afzali, one of the organisers of the petition campaign told Adnkronos International (AKI) in a telephone interview from Tehran.

"The ban in unacceptable, it is an apartheid measure which must disappear. We demand that FIFA put pressure on the Iranian authorities and that sanctions be considered," Alzali said.

Authorities have recently banned public showings of a film by Iranian director, Jafar Panahi, which tells the story of a group of women who defy the ban and gatecrash a stadium during a football match.

The film, 'Offside' won acclaim at the recent Berlin Film Festival and is scheduled for release in the United States where it is being distributed by the Sony corporation.

"The decision to ban my film is stupid," Jafar Panahi told AKI.

"Offside is on sale on stalls around Iran and some 100,000 pirated copies have already been sold," he said.