The Diplomat
The Government has granted Spanish nationality to Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, the Iranian chess player who competed last December in the World Championship in Kazakhstan without wearing the Islamic veil.
The granting of nationality to Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, also known as Shara Khadem, was approved last Tuesday by the Council of Ministers at the proposal of the acting Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop. The nationality by letter of nature is an exceptional procedure and much faster than the usual channels and allows to avoid that these people prolong their stateless situation for a long time.
Khademalsharieh, 25, refused last December to wear the Islamic veil, or hijab, during her participation in the World Chess Championship in Amalty, despite the fact that it is mandatory for women in her country. The athlete took this decision in protest against the death of the young Kurdish woman Masha Amini, whose death in police custody, precisely for not wearing the veil properly, generated a strong wave of protests and repression in Iran.
After the World Cup, the chess player moved to Spain to avoid reprisals from the Iranian authorities. Khademalsharieh, Women’s Grandmaster and 804th in the world according to the International Chess Federation, lives in an apartment that her family owns in an unnamed city in Spain, together with her husband, the documentary filmmaker Ardeshir Ahmadi, and their baby.
