PortraitGrand chess master, Mitra Hejazipour dared, in 2019, to compete without a headscarf while playing for Iran. A daring which earned him to be excluded from his national team. She has just obtained the authorization to represent France, where she has gone into exile, in international competitions.
Mitra Hejazipour is the embodiment of quiet strength. Tall and slender, this Iranian chess champion who, since the end of June, can play in the colors of France, stands up straight and speaks with grace. It’s hard to imagine that, at only 26 years old, this same young woman made a decision which has now left her the impossibility of returning to her native country, Iran, where her parents and her little sister still live.
On December 25, 2019, at the world blitz championship (very fast games), in Moscow, Mitra Hejazipour, member of the Iranian national team, decides not to wear a headscarf – compulsory in the Islamic Republic of Iran. His photo, black hair tied in a ponytail, widely shared on the Web, creates an outcry. Taken aback, the Iranian Chess Federation first announces that Mitra Hejazipour is not part of the Iranian team. Finally, the young woman is excluded from her team, for “Non-compliance with the laws”.
“The hypocrisy within the federation and the obligation for us players to participate in state ceremonies weighed on me. I always had an inner voice that kept telling me, “There is something wrong.” »Mitra Hejazipour
“At the time, at the invitation of the Brest chess club, I lived temporarily in this city and I played for them, without a headscarf [elle n’avait pas encore quitté définitivement l’Iran], explains in a soft voice Mitra Hejazipour, now aged 28, in a Parisian cafe. I am against the obligation to wear the veil. The Iranian federation kept sending me messages to warn me, telling me to wear it or else I would be fired. At the world championship, in Russia, I didn’t see the need to continue this hypocrisy. Why did I always have to adapt to their demands when we chess players always paid for our trips ourselves and the federation paid little attention to us? ”
By revealing herself, Mitra Hejazipour thus became the second Iranian champion to be banned from playing for the national team, after Dorsa Derakhshani. The latter, excluded in 2017, now competes for the United States.
The forces of rebellion
In Mitra Hejazipour, the forces of rebellion run deep. His father, a civil engineer, taught him not only chess, but also the need to never accept illogical or unfair words. “He sowed the seed, slips the holder of the title of female international grandmaster, obtained in 2015, the most prestigious distinction that a chess player can obtain, apart from the title of world champion. Later, the failures gave me the opportunity to travel abroad, to meet people from elsewhere. And it allowed me to open my mind. More and more, the hypocrisy within the federation and the obligation for us players to participate in state ceremonies weighed on me. I felt like my character was changing. I always had an inner voice that kept telling me, “There is something wrong.” So I understood that we had to stop. “
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