Iranian Chess Player Who Removed Hijab Gets Spanish Citizenship

Iranian chess player, Sara Khadem, was issued with an arrest warrant after competing at chess championships without a hijab in Kazkahstan in December 2022. Now, she has been granted Spanish citizenship and claims she has no regrets.

^{Chess - FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships - Rapid Women - Almaty, Kazakhstan - December 28, 2022. Sara Khadem of Iran plays again}^{st Olga Girya of Russia. REUTERS/Pavel Mikheyev}

MADRID (Reuters) - An Iranian chess player who moved to Spain in January after she competed without a hijab and had an arrest warrant issued against her at home has been granted Spanish citizenship, Spain said on Wednesday.

Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, better known as Sara Khadem, took part in the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships held in Kazakhstan in late December without the headscarf that is mandatory under Iran's strict Islamic dress codes.

Laws enforcing mandatory hijab-wearing became a flashpoint during the unrest that swept Iran when a 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, died in the custody of the morality police in mid-September.

The 26-year-old has told Reuters she had no regrets over her gesture in support of the protest movement against her country's clerical leadership.

Spain's official gazette said the cabinet approved granting Khadem citizenship on Tuesday "taking into account the special circumstances" of her case.