Sara Khadem: who is chess player living in exile in Spain and why has she been exiled from Iran?

The 25-year-old has resettled in Spain after papers were issued for her arrest
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Chess player Sara Khadem has been exiled from Iran after she played in a tournament without wearing a headscarf.

The 25-year-old appeared in photos shared by Iranian media outlet Jamaran in December 2022 that showed her playing at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan without wearing a headscarf, which is mandatory under Iran’s dress code. She can now no longer return to her home country of Iran after papers were issued for her arrest.

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Iran has been rocked by protests after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Masha Amini in September 2022 after she was detained by the country’s morality police.

The chess player, who is ranked number 774 in the world and is the nineth best player in Iran, according to the International Chess Federation (FIDE), has since settled in southern Spain with her husband and one-year-old son. In January she met the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez who tweeted that she “inspires me”. So, who is Sara Khadem and why has she been exiled from Iran? Here’s everything you need to know.

Who is Sara Khadem?

Khadem, who is also known as Sarasadat Khadem al-sharieh, is a 25-year-old chess player from Iran who holds the titles of International Master and Woman Grandmaster. She has been playing chess since she was 8-years-old and is ranked number 774 in the world and is the ninth best player in Iran, according to the FIDE.

Why has she been exiled from Iran?

In December 2022, the 25-year-old chess player appeared in photos shared by Iranian media outlet Jamaran that showed her playing at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan without wearing a headscarf, which is mandatory under Iran’s dress code. Following the photographs papers were issued for her arrest, meaning that she was unable to return home to Iran.

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Khadem has since resettled in southern Spain with her husband and one-year-old son. In January she met with the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez who took to Twitter to share that the chess player “inspires me”. His caption read: “How much I have learned today from a woman who inspires me, the Women’s Chess Grandmaster Sara Khadem.”

Iran has been rocked by protests after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Masha Amini in September 2022 after she was detained by the country’s morality police. Khadem is not the first sportsperson to go without their headscarf. In October 2022, Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi competed in South Korea without hers but later said it had fallen off, whilst in November 2022, Iranian archer Parmida Ghasemi was pictured without headscarf during an awards ceremony in Tehran, according to CNN she explained she had not realised it had fallen off.

What has Sara Khadem said?

In an interview with El Pais, Khadem explained the reason behind her decision to play in the tournament without her headscarf. She said: “To be honest, even before playing this tournament, I never wore a hijab. I mean, I only put it on for the cameras because I was representing Iran. Somehow, it didn’t feel good to not be myself, so I just decided not to do that anymore.”

Speaking to the BBC she revealed that the day she met the Spanish Prime Minister, which also turned out to be the day her arrest orders were issued in Iran. She said: “It was on that day that I was issued with arrest orders at home. So I had mixed feelings: I was appreciated in this country - and in my own country, where you have achieved lots of success, you get arrest papers.”

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