(MENAFN- Arab Times) TEHRAN Nov 10 (AFP): The international volleyball federation FIVB on Sunday said it will not allow Iran to host international events as long as women are banned from attending the game. The announcement comes a week after a British-Iranian women Goncheh Ghavami was jailed by a Tehran court five months following her arrest in the city after trying to attend a volleyball match. The FIVB will 'not give Iran the right to host any future FIVB directly controlled events such as World Championships especially under age until the ban on women attending volleyball matches is lifted' a spokesman for the international federation told AFP. 'This does not include other volleyball tournaments or next year's World League tournament because the fixtures are already confirmed' the spokesman added.
The secretary general of the Iranian federation Mahmoud Afshardoost confirmed to AFP that the FIVB had already informed Iran it not would be able to organise the Under-19 championships in 2015. 'We received an email from the FIVB announcing a change of plan' he said adding that no reason was given for the decision. 'We are waiting to find out the real reason (behind the change) and we will then decide what to do' he added.
Meanwhile a top Iranian judiciary official on Monday denied that a British- Iranian woman arrested in June after trying to attend a men's volleyball match had been sentenced to jail media reported. The lawyer for Ghoncheh Ghavami said earlier this month that the 25-yearold law graduate from London had been sentenced to a year in prison. 'According to the verdict she was sentenced to one year in jail' lawyer Alizadeh Tabatabaie was quoted as saying on Nov 2 by Iranian media.
Tabatabaie said at the time he had not received official notification of the verdict but that the judge had showed him a copy of it after Ghavami's trial for spreading 'propaganda against the regime' a broad charge often used by the judiciary. But deputy judiciary head Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejeie dismissed this claim saying that no sentence had been pronounced because the trial was still ongoing. 'We have not finished examining the case. The court must still give a ruling on another charge' against Ghavami Mohseni-Ejeie told reporters during his weekly news conference.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.