The 26-year-old fled to Spain with her family after competing in a tournament without wearing a mandatory veil.
Sara Khadem, the Iranian chess player who fled to Spain after competing in an international tournament without wearing a mandatory hijab in solidarity with the mass protests back home, has been granted Spanish nationality, according to a government minister.
“In response to the exceptional circumstances concerning Mrs Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, I have just granted her Spanish nationality,” Justice Minister Pilar Llop was quoted in the country’s Official Journal of the State (BOE) as saying on Wednesday. He used Khadem’s full name.
A 26-year-old chess grandmaster, Khadem participated in a World Cup event in Kazakhstan in December 2022, without wearing the headscarf, which is compulsory for women in Iran.
As she explained in an interview with the AFP news agency in February, she did so in support of the protest movement that erupted in Iran following the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini in September last year.
Amini, 22, had been arrested by Tehran morality police for an alleged breach of the country’s strict dress code for women.
A relative warned Khadem that she would be arrested if she returned to Iran.
Source : aljazeera
