Parliament's plan to ban Iranian and Israeli athletes from fighting

Representatives of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran approved two urgent bills to “counter Israel’s hostile actions” against regional and international peace and security. Based on this bill, fighting between Iranian and Israeli athletes will also be officially banned.

In a public session on Tuesday (May 13) of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran, two urgent measures to confront Israel's "hostile actions" against regional and international peace and security were on the agenda and discussed.

This plan was not opposed by any member of parliament, and thus its two urgent bills were approved.

Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, has asked the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission to review this bill as soon as possible so that it can be placed on the agenda of the open floor of the Assembly at the beginning of next week.

The plan includes a total of 14 articles, including prohibitions, penalties, complaints, and sanctions against Israel, most of which are related to political issues.

One of these 14 articles, however, is dedicated to the issue of sports competitions between Iranian and Israeli athletes.

According to Article 11 of this two-pronged plan, holding any sports competition or match, whether official or preparatory, between Iranian athletes and sports teams and Israeli opponents is prohibited.

In this article, each of the sports federations of the Islamic Republic is specifically obligated to "take appropriate commitments and measures, by utilizing all domestic and international capacities and establishing principled communication with international sports communities, to prevent the imposition of any international sports sanctions and bans against athletes who refuse to face" Israeli opponents.

In addition, federations have been asked to "encourage and support" athletes by allocating the necessary resources.

The risk of suspension of Iranian sports

The inclusion of this article in the aforementioned plan comes at a time when the World Judo Federation suspended all international Iranian judo activities in October of last year (2019) to pressure the Islamic Republic's authorities over the forced loss of Iranian judo athletes to Israeli opponents.

The Islamic Consultative Assembly's step towards officially banning Iranian athletes from facing Israeli athletes is a clear interference of politics in sports; something that is unacceptable from the perspective and according to the approvals of international sports federations.

Refusing to compete for political reasons is prohibited under the rules of the International Olympic Committee and all world federations.

This is while the problem of facing Israeli opponents has engulfed many sports disciplines. Iranian athletes have so far been forced to refuse to face Israeli opponents due to "illness", "sudden injury", "weight problem" and other reasons, or have lost consecutively in the previous round so as not to be forced to face Israeli opponents, even in cases where they claimed victory and were dealing with an unknown opponent.

The most recent case, which is even scheduled to be reviewed by an international body (the Court of Arbitration for Sport based in Switzerland) in September of this year, is the issue of Saeed Mollaei's intentional loss at the 2019 World Judo Championships.

Saeed Mollaei, the 28-year-old world judo champion who was one of the main contenders for the gold medal, revealed after his deliberate defeat in those games that the head of the National Olympic Committee of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the deputy minister of sports had asked him by phone to lose to his opponent in the semi-finals so that he would not have to compete with an Israeli judoka in the final.

This incident ultimately led to the professional athlete's decision not to return to Iran, his request for asylum in Germany, and ultimately the revelation of the scandal.

In the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, alongside Saeed Mollaei, Vahid Sarlak has also been summoned as a witness.

Vahid Sarlak witnessed the details of the event up close and personal at the 2019 World Judo Championships in Japan.

Now, there is a risk that if the two-step plan to “counter Israel’s hostile actions” is finally approved in the parliament, the issue of suspending sports activities will affect other sports disciplines and, in the worst case, all of Iranian sports will be suspended in connection with international competitions. The Tokyo Olympics, which will be held in Tokyo next year, will be one of these competitions.

Source: DW