One of the world’s top female chess referees who fled Iran after being photographed without a hijab has spoken of her Jewish roots for the first time – while awaiting asylum in the UK.
Shohreh Bayat was pictured at the 2020 Women’s World Chess Championship in Shanghai, which took place in January, standing by a chess board with her headscarf around her neck.
Iranian hardliners reacted to the images by immediately declaring her a public enemy.
But Ms Bayat has now flown to London where she is living with the family of a chess playing friend – and is now awaiting for an asylum claim to be processed by the Home Office.
