An Iranian soccer star just found out her free will ends the moment her husband invokes rights under Islam.
Niloofar Ardalan, 30, may be the captain of the Iranian women's soccer team, but her husband has forbidden her from traveling outside the country for the Asian Football Federation Women's Futsal Championship. The five-on-five tournament begins today and runs through Sept. 26 in Nilai, Malaysia.
"My husband didn't give me my passport so that I can [participate] in the games, and because of his opposition to my travel abroad, I [will] miss the matches," Ardalan said during a recent interview, Fox News reported Sept. 15.
The athlete's husband, sportscaster Mehdi Tutunchi, wants her home for the their son's first day of school on Sept. 23.
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"I wish authorities would pass a law for sportswomen so we can defend our rights in these circumstances," Ardalan told Iran's NASIM news agency, Agence France Press reported Thursday. "As a Muslim woman I wanted to raise the flag of my country. I wasn't going there for fun."
Shortly after going public with her grievance the star released another statement apologizing for her behavior, which was covered by "anti-revolutionary media," AFP reported.
"I'm a Muslim Iranian woman and my absence from these games is a personal and family matter," she said, AFP reported.