Newsletter

Iran’s cruel politics in the stadium (nd-aktuell.de)

Iran’s flag without national emblem: This Iranian fan was also reprimanded at the World Cup.

Photo: imago/Laci Perenyi

Of course, at the Al Thumama stadium there were the images that always arise when a national team is eliminated: disappointed Iranian players lying on the pitch. Morteza Pouraliganji didn’t even want to get up. The Persepolis Tehran defender headed wide just before the end to keep the United States 0-1. National coach Carlos Queiroz struggled with this unfair result. At the same time, the Portuguese railed against those anonymous sources who reported that his players were intimidated. That’s a shame, the 69-year-old complained. Are you crazy?

The globetrotter, who is well acquainted with conditions in the Islamic Republic, should know from his first term in office between 2011 and 2019 how long the rulers’ brutal arm reaches into football. The regime wanted to massively abuse this World Cup for its own purposes – and above all to keep the protest movement in its own country small. The audience with President Ebrahim Raisi before departure was forced, and there is talk of reprisals after refusing to sing the national anthem in the first game against England. Players should kick and obey. And don’t show any solidarity with the demonstrators.

One can only imagine the pressure that enlightened footballers like Bayer Leverkusen’s Sardar Azmoun were under. Anyone who fears that their family members will be beaten, tortured or imprisoned will at least move their lips to the anthem. The government from Tehran had carted thousands of supporters loyal to the regime to Qatar for the third group game against the USA. In contrast to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, there were hardly any women with made-up faces and loose hair in the stands. The fact that the worldview for television showed the few exceptions bordered on fraud.

Instead of promoting the deception, the world association Fifa would have to investigate the incidents on the stadium grounds. There, a man, apparently an Iranian exile, was massively threatened by aggressive compatriots who behaved like moral police officers because he had worn the »Women! Live! Freedom!« carried. According to eyewitness accounts, the presentation of this message was forcibly suppressed in many places. The cleansing actions were initiated by the rulers, who also worked with massive intimidation of journalists from Iran.

Fifa must do a much better job of protecting fundamental rights. The condition must be that countries like Iran can only play in a World Cup if women have unrestricted access to football stadiums. That is the least. Fifa President Gianni Infantino had also ducked here. His flimsy argument: 80 million monsters don’t live in Iran. May be right. But there are a few monsters too many among the mullahs, otherwise there would not be so many women and children among the hundreds killed in the protests.

Read all our articles on the World Cup in Qatar at: dasnd.de/katar

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Trending