Chess player refuses to return to Iran over arrest warrant

An Iranian chess player, who moved to Spain after she competed without a hijab and had an arrest warrant issued against her back home, has no regrets over her bold gesture in support of the protest movement against her country's clerical leadership, Report informs via Reuters.

But 25-year-old Sarasadat Khademalsharieh, better known as Sara Khadem, also told Reuters that the warrant, which made her return to Iran impossible, was "the most horrible thing" that happened to her.

"(As chess players) we always have to predict what is going to happen next, but...it didn't go as I expected," she told Reuters at an undisclosed location in southern Spain where she now lives with her film-maker husband and child.

Khadem, who arrived in Spain in January on a residence visa linked to the purchase of property, said Iranian authorities had told her to record a video saying that she regretted her actions as a condition of returning home.

She refused, and subsequently learned about the warrant.

Still, removing the hijab was "something that I thought was right to do and I don't regret anything", she said, adding that she only used to wear the headscarf at tournaments when there were cameras, and that many Iranian sportswomen felt the same way.

"But it (no hijab) has become one of the symbols of the movement in Iran and I also decided to finally do something that I wanted to, to be myself...I was motivated by the people of Iran."