Iran’s State TV Censors UK Soccer Match Over Female Referee in Shorts

Iran’s State TV Censors UK Soccer Match Over Female Referee in Shorts

Iran’s state-run TV network censored a British soccer Premier League match to comply with the regime’s Islamic sharia law.

The live telecast was interrupted more than 100 times during the 90 minutes game to prevent showing a female referee dressed in customary black soccer shorts, newspaper reports say.

The Times of Israel reported the bizarre attempt by the Mullah regime to enforce sharia:

Iranian state TV censored a live broadcast of a British soccer match to avoid showing the legs of a female assistant referee, a rights group said Tuesday.

The match was censored over “100 times,” according to My Stealthy Freedom, an Iranian rights group that opposes Iran’s compulsory hijab law.

During the Premier League match between Tottenham and Manchester United on Sunday, an Iranian state channel cut away from the game and played footage of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the backstreets of North London in an effort to conceal shots of assistant referee Sian Massey-Ellis, who was wearing shorts.

At the end of the game, a commentator reportedly quipped that “he hoped the viewers enjoyed the geographic show,” according to My Stealthy Freedom. (…)

“Censorship is in the DNA of the Islamic Republic of Iran. We should not normalize this practice. This is not our culture. This is the ideology of a repressive regime,” the rights organization said in a statement on Facebook.

The Iranian regime, which systematically deploys rape and torture against female dissidents in jails, goes to a great extent to enforce the sharia-compliant dress code in media and public life. In February, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali issued a fatwa ordering all female cartoon characters to be shown in hijab, the sharia-mandated headscarf.

Iranian women refusing to obey Hijab rules face public floggings, rapes, and lengthy prison sentences. The sharia dress code for women is enforced by Iran’s Morality Police and the dreaded pro-regime Basij militia.

The imposition of sharia law is not limited to Islamic tyrannies like Iran. Europe, too, with its growing Muslim population, is increasingly agreeing to these regressive rules.

On Tuesday, the French mineral water brand Evian apologized to Muslims for promoting the brand during Ramada, the Islamic month of fasting. The company offended Muslims by its social media posts encouraging people to stay hydrated.

The social media “post had prompted accusations of Islamophobia on social media and from commentators because Muslims are forbidden to drink or eat anything in the daytime during Ramadan,” The London Times reported on Friday.

Evian’s French Twitter handle quickly apologized to offended Muslims for the perceived Islamophobia.

“Iranian woman sentenced to 24 years in prison for removing hijab” (September 2019)

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