Gulf director of a London-based international NGO Jasmine Jahromi yesterday hoped the attention given to British-Iranian Ghoncheh Ghavami will finally place scrutiny on Iran and their ban on women attending sports matches.

Ghavami was last week sentenced to a year in prison by a Tehran court for trying to attend a volleyball match in June between Iran and Italy.

Upon her arrest she was held for 100 days — 41 in solitary — and last month went on a 14-day hunger strike.

The international volleyball federation (FIVB) on Sunday stripped Iran of the right to host next year’s under-19 championship until they lifted their ban of women attending volleyball games.

Jahromi, who also attended Soas, University of London with Ghavami and was born to Iranian parents, hopes that Ghavami’s horrific ordeal can force Iran to treat women equally.

She said: “The media attention will increase the scrutiny on Iran. Increasing access to sports not only raises equality but allows the welcome ability for social unity and cohesion.

“What Ghavami has done will empower and inspire women to challenge the status quo, which is precisely why female attendance is not allowed.

“Ghavami deserves the utmost respect for trying to change the culture in Iran.”

President of Iran Hassan Rouhani — who claims to advocate more social freedoms for women while conservatives are attempting to strengthen the measures which prevent men and women from mixing — has not publicly responded to the decision to jail Ghavami.

And Jahromi believes that Rouhani has his hands tied in this case.

She said: “The law is supposedly in place to protect women from hooligan men. Rouhani is powerless to do anything.

“Supreme leader Ali Khamenei is to blame.”

National police chief General Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam said in June “we cannot allow the presence of women in stadiums” because gender mixing “is not yet in the public interest.”

The ban on women attending volleyball matches was introduced in 2012 and is a part of a much larger ban on women attending football matches, with the excuse being they are being protected from the “lewd behaviour of male fans.”

But by banning women from attending sport events, Jahromi believes Iran are losing many potential women athletes for the future.

“If you take a pure sporting perspective then it’s a double shame because Iran isn’t bad at sport,” she added. “We do well for an Asian country and that’s without the untapped potential of women.

“Yes they participate, but all-women teams struggle to find coaches — male/females can’t officially mix in that context — and they suffer from restrictive dress codes, which is is why swimmers and gymnasts won’t even try to compete.

“We have female medallists but it isn’t easy.”