Insistent To Create Videos Of Disappropriation And Getting Arrest Orders, Iranian Speakers Who Are Off The Hijab Don't Disrupt

JAKARTA - An Iranian woman who was forced to stay in Spain, after competing without a hijab in support of protests against the Tehran rulers, said she had no regrets, even though she also received an arrest warrant.

Sarasadat Khademalsharieh (25) or better known as Sara Khadem told Reuters the warrant, which made it impossible to return to Iran, was "the most terrible thing" that had happened to her.

He said that after playing at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in December in Almaty Kazakhstan without mandatory headscarves under strict clothing rules in Iran, he predicted he would only be subject to a travel ban.

"(As chess players) we always have to predict what will happen next, but... it didn't go the way I expected," he told Reuters at an undisclosed location in southern Spain where he now lives with his husband and son.

Khadem, who arrived in Spain in January on a residence visa related to property purchases, said Iranian authorities had told him to record the video, saying he regretted his actions as a condition to return home.

He refused, and then found out about the warrant.

"Still, removing the headscarf is something I think is right to do and I don't regret anything," he said, adding that he was only wearing a headscarf at the tournament when there was a camera, and many Iranian sportsmen felt the same way.

"But that (without the hijab) has become one of the symbols of the movement in Iran and I have also decided to finally do something I want, be myself... I am motivated by the Iranian people," he said.

The law imposing the obligation to wear the headscarf has been a flashpoint during the riots that hit Iran since mid-September, when a 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdi woman, Mahsa Amini, was killed in a morality police custody.

Khadem said Mahsa's death "made us all heartbroken", inspiring many people to protest. A series of female sportsmen who have competed abroad since then appeared without a headscarf in public.

"There are a lot of things people are not happy about right now, so even though this time it hasn't changed anything, I think it's time people will bounce back," said Khadem, who doesn't consider himself a political activist, but wants to be a voice for change.

Ranked 774th in the world and 9th in Iran, Khadem plans to continue playing under Iran's flag, although a number of countries have submitted proposals to recruit him.

He said political sanctions against sportsmen from countries like Russia were often unfair, and the ban on their participation in tournaments led to suffering.

"I know a lot of athletes are not responsible for what's happening in their country," he added.