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Katrin Göring-Eckardt calls for officials to be suspended

Bundestag Vice-President Katrin Göring-Eckardt has called on the international sports federations to suspend “Iranian sports officials who do not uphold the values ​​of international sport” and to freeze payments to them. The Green MP, who has taken on a sponsorship with the International Society for Human Rights (IGFM) for swimmer Parham Parvari, who has been sentenced to death by the Iranian judiciary, told the FAZ that the international sports community must not remain silent about the courage of protesting athletes in Iran.

“During the protests in Iran, sport is also in the public eye. There are athletes who show solidarity with the protesters at great personal risk. The international sports community must not remain silent about this courage. The German officials in the international sports associations must ensure that Iranian athletes are protected at international tournaments. Sponsorships for Iranian teams and athletes can also create publicity in sports.”

Parham Parvari, national swimming champion, is from Saqqez, the hometown of Djina Mahsa Amini, whose death in custody on September 16 by Iran’s moral guards sparked pro-civil rights and freedom protests. Parvari was arrested in Tehran on October 3, according to the ISHR, when he got caught up in a protest on his way home.

Manifold repressions

He was sentenced to death on charges of “waging war against God” (Moharebeh). At the beginning of January he was transferred to Tehran’s large prison, his current situation is “unfortunately unclear”, and his family does not have access to him either. Katrin Göring-Eckardt called on the Iranian government to “protect the life of the young Kurdish-Iranian athlete and release him immediately from custody. This also applies to the other arbitrarily arrested persons.”

In view of the manifold repressions against Iranian athletes who show sympathy for the civil rights movement or actively support it, Göring-Eckardt called for sanctions by the international sports associations. “The Iranian regime also has the Iranian sports federations under control. Sports officials who do not uphold the values ​​of international sport must be suspended by international sports federations. Payments to them should also be frozen. Any pressure helps.”

Irrespective of current events, the sports associations of the Islamic Republic of Iran have not allowed their athletes to compete against Israeli athletes for more than forty years, in accordance with the state anti-Israel doctrine. In addition, women are subject to the dress code of the theocracy. If they behave differently, women who, like climber Elnaz Rekabi, who competed in the Asian Championships in Seoul in October without a headscarf, are immediately put under pressure.

IOC ‘extremely concerned’

Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said its President Thomas Bach had pleaded with Iran’s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in December for clemency for karateka Mohammad Mehdi Karami “and other members of the Olympic community”. Bach’s request was ignored. Karami was hanged on January 7 at the age of 22. The Iranian judiciary had already proceeded in September 2020, when the wrestler Navid Afkari was executed despite a request for clemency from the IOC President.

The IOC went on to say that it was “extremely concerned” about the situation in Iran. “Respect each country’s sovereignty and judiciary, but when a decision affects athletes, of course we feel close to them.” Do whatever is possible within the limits of your job. Iran’s NOK was asked to “continue to do its utmost”. A report from the NOK has been requested, and: “We continue to monitor the situation very closely.”

Maximilian Klein, responsible for international sports policy at Athletes Germany, accuses the international sports organizations of having tolerated human rights violations like those in Iran for years. “At the latest, the cruel execution of the wrestler Navid Afkari more than two years ago made it clear that the Iranian regime also makes examples of athletes. This inaction was and is unacceptable. For a long time we have been calling for Iran to be excluded from world sport. Sanctions should be directed against the political leadership and the national associations. If possible, athletes should continue to be allowed to start under a neutral flag and must be protected,” Klein told the FAZ

It is “not least” state actors who disregard human rights in sport and damage its canon of values. Russia, China, Qatar, Belarus and Iran are just recent examples: “Sport must now have an honest discussion about red lines and thus also about sanction criteria in the international sports system. The governments of democratically constituted states and sponsors are asked to call for such a debate.”

Klein expressly welcomed “the recent developments at the interface between sport and human rights in German sports and human rights policy”. Athletes Germany would like “the realization of human rights in sport to be included in Germany’s value-based foreign policy”.

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