February 17, 2023
Iranian chess referee Shohreh Bayat said a gesture of solidarity with female compatriots at a chess tournament in Iceland has caused a feud with the game’s global governing body and seen her kicked off a commission.
Bayat wore a “Woman, Life, Freedom” T-shirt at a tournament in October, soon after protests began in Iran over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in custody.
“I don’t think it’s normal to stay quiet about this,” Bayat, 35, told Reuters in an interview. She is among a string of sports figures to clash with authorities over the hejab policy and express solidarity with anti-government demonstrators.
“This is a big human rights matter. I think if we stay quiet about these things, we cannot forgive ourselves,” she said.
Bayat, who was also accused by Iran of violating hejab rules at a tournament in 2020, said the International Chess Federation (FIDE) had removed her from its arbiters’ commission after she angered its president, Arkady Dvorkovich.
The Iranian said Dvor-kovich asked her to change her attire in Iceland, after another chess official had raised the issue. She reappeared at the tournament in a yellow suit and blue blouse: the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
FIDE confirmed Dvorko-vich, a Russian national, had told her not to wear the shirt about women’s rights. The federation said it respected Bayat’s political activities, but that she “disregarded direct instructions given to her to stop wearing slogans or mottos.”
“No matter how noble or uncontroversial the cause is, doing activism from that role is inappropriate and unprofessional,” it said in a statement to Reuters.
Bayat accused Dvorkovich, a Russian deputy prime minister from 2012 to 2018, of succumbing to geopolitics. “Iran and Russia are very united in the war against Ukraine,” she said. “When I was told by Dvorkovich to take off my T-shirt, that was the reason probably.
“My T-shirt was not political at all…. It’s one of the most beautiful women’s rights messages in the world.”
According to a message seen by Reuters, a senior FIDE official told Bayat she had been removed from the commission because Dvorkovich was “furious” with her. Dvorkovich did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment. FIDE said it had not discussed any disciplinary action against Bayat and values her as an arbiter.
Bayat lives in London, fearing for her safety after photos of her at the 2020 tournament in Russia brought criticism in Iranian state media.
Bayat said at the time that she does not agree with the hejab, but that she had been wearing a headscarf during the championship, although it had been loose and was not visible from some angles in photographs.