Many boys growing up in late 1980s Britain will be familiar with Ian St. John and Jimmy Greaves. This duo of ex footballers presented a weekly football show on ITV - and despite the best efforts of their enthusiastic endeavours, did little to persuade me that football was nothing more than a rather pointless use of 90 minutes.
Had their footage more closely resembled Iranian football coverage, I might have taken more of an interest. First of all, yes, there is such a thing as Iranian football coverage (I was surprised too) but - as you might expect - they must follow Iran's strict rules of public chastity.
A congratulatory hug seems to be OK, but, based on a decision this week, the grabbing of buttocks is not OK. Two footballers have been fined and face the threat of imprisonment and/or lashings. Looking at the footage, it looks as if one player accidentally/on purpose appear to slid his fingers in the anal cavity of another player after a successful goal. Check out the footage below:
In order for decision to have been made, it means that officials must have sought to interpret the chastity law - creating visions of deeply religious men watching and re-watching the above scene and debating the extent of anal probing, and the 'probity' of such a gesture.
It is tempting to re-post this video on Facebook and Google+, to regard it as nothing more than a humorous incident but it's a reminder of the fear that innocent brushing/misinterpreted gestures, and un-intentioned physical contact can result in harsh punishments within the Iranian regime. Law remains a tool of sexual oppression in Iran, and it's important that we don't lose sight of that.
Had their footage more closely resembled Iranian football coverage, I might have taken more of an interest. First of all, yes, there is such a thing as Iranian football coverage (I was surprised too) but - as you might expect - they must follow Iran's strict rules of public chastity.
A congratulatory hug seems to be OK, but, based on a decision this week, the grabbing of buttocks is not OK. Two footballers have been fined and face the threat of imprisonment and/or lashings. Looking at the footage, it looks as if one player accidentally/on purpose appear to slid his fingers in the anal cavity of another player after a successful goal. Check out the footage below:
In order for decision to have been made, it means that officials must have sought to interpret the chastity law - creating visions of deeply religious men watching and re-watching the above scene and debating the extent of anal probing, and the 'probity' of such a gesture.
It is tempting to re-post this video on Facebook and Google+, to regard it as nothing more than a humorous incident but it's a reminder of the fear that innocent brushing/misinterpreted gestures, and un-intentioned physical contact can result in harsh punishments within the Iranian regime. Law remains a tool of sexual oppression in Iran, and it's important that we don't lose sight of that.
