'I couldn't betray the people': Iran chess master Khadem

When Iranian chess champion Sara Khadem played in Kazakhstan in December without a hijab in solidarity with the mass protests back home, her life changed dramatically.

Under the Islamic Republic's strict dress code, women must cover their heads in public and while representing Iran abroad.

The 25-year-old grandmaster thought her defiance might earn her a travel ban as had happened before. Instead she was forced to flee into exile to avoid arrest after she refused to record a video saying she had been pressured into not wearing a hijab.

"I said I wouldn't do it. Then they said it would be a problem."

So Kadem never went home, leaving Kazakhstan without even a chessboard.

If she goes back to Iran, she has been told she will be arrested.

- 'They might go after us' -

Speaking to AFP at a secret location in southern Spain, where she now lives, Khadem said she made a choice to not "betray" the protest movement that erupted in September over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

Amini died following her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of Iran's dress code.

Khadem said if she had played the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in a hijab she would have been "betraying the people in Iran".

But even in Spain, she is still fearful, not wanting to say where she lives with her husband Ardeshir Ahmadi, 32, an Iranian-Canadian film director, and one-year-old son.

"It's for security reasons. The Iranian government might go after us. They have done that in the past with some other Iranians," she said.

- 'Hypocritical' -

Wearing a hijab was never part of her daily life and Khadem said she only wore one in public because that was the law in Iran.

She said wearing one "in front of the camera when you don't believe in it" seemed "hypocritical".

Despite being forced to flee, she doesn't regret her decision.

"The reason behind it was personal, but the timing was obviously because of what was happening in Iran," she said of the protest movement, which has sparked a bloody crackdown by the authorities in which nearly 500 people have been killed and at least 14,000 arrested.

"We are all inspired by and empowered by what is going on in Iran," she said.

In October, Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi competed without a hijab in South Korea but later apologised, saying it had fallen off by accident.

Leaving Iran was not something Khadem ever wanted.

"It's our homeland," she said, admitting that being far from her parents was "the most difficult decision" she'd ever made.

She and her husband obtained residency in Spain through a "golden visa" scheme after investing at least 500,000 euros in property.

The young prodigy -- who played chess with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez last month -- is aware she's lucky, acknowledging it was "not very easy for many Iranian people to obtain a visa because of the current situation."

- 'Optimistic' about change -

It's not the first time the player, ranked as the 17th best woman in the world, has fallen foul of the Iranian authorities.

In 2020, she was banned from travelling for six months for leaving the national chess team after Iran shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane "by mistake", killing all 176 people on board.

"I went to the airport and they just took my passport... For six months I couldn't play in any tournaments and that was a huge gap. I thought my career would be over," said Khadem, who has been playing chess since she was eight.

"I had to promise (the authorities) that I didn't want to emigrate," she smiled, the irony not lost on her.

Before that, she made a name for herself by backing fellow chess prodigy Alireza Firouzja, who left Iran 2019 after he was banned from playing that year's World Rapid and Blitz Championship so he wouldn't face any Israelis.

He now plays for France, where he has become a citizen.

Khadem hopes to return to playing chess competitively or become a commentator.

And she is "optimistic" for Iran despite the suffering there now.

"Maybe it will take more sacrifices to get a big change (but) I think there will come a day when we can all go back."