The judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran continues to use brutal force against athletes. 25-year-old swimmer Parham Parvari was sentenced this week to a total of 15 years in prison. Of these, he is to serve ten years in Jask prison in Hormozgan province on the Persian Gulf, around 2,000 kilometers from his hometown of Saqqez in Iranian Kurdistan.
Also from Saqqez was Dschina Mahsa Amini, whose death in custody of the moral guards last fall had led to demonstrations under the motto “Woman, Life, Freedom” for civil rights and freedom and against the theocratic regime. Parvari, national swimming champion, was arrested on October 3, 2022, according to human rights organization Hengaw, when he got caught up in a demonstration on his way home from work.
“The verdict is terrible”
According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, his case was dealt with on May 28 by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, presided over by Judge Amouzadeh. The conviction for “Mohabereh”, the “waging of war against God”, was communicated to Parvari on Tuesday of this week.
Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Bündnis 90/Grüne), who had sponsored Parham Parvari to draw attention to his case, told the FAZ: “The verdict is terrible. Parham Parvari is a competitive athlete and engineer. A young man who wishes nothing more than for all Iranians to be able to live in freedom and dignity in their country. Parham wishes for what should be normal. Working for freedom and human rights is not a crime.”
The Bundestag Vice President called on the Iranian regime to “protect Parham’s health and release him immediately. This also applies to the other arbitrarily and wrongly arrested people in Iran”.
“Every pressure helps”
According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, the traces of the torture Parvari was subjected to during his arrest are still visible. Hengaw had reported that Parvari had lost 20 kilos in detention in Tehran, including in Evin prison. Parham Parvari was allowed to see his family and a lawyer only once during the 230 days there.
On January 7th the Islamic Republic executed the karateka Mohammad Mehdi Karami, on May 19th Saleh Mirhaschemi, also a karateka. At the time, Göring-Eckardt spoke of an “unclear situation” with regard to Parvari, the prisoner had been sentenced to death.
“The Iranian regime also has the Iranian sports federations under control. Iranian sports officials who do not comply with the values of international sports must be suspended by the international sports federations,” Göring-Eckardt had demanded from the FAZ in January. “Payments to them should also be frozen. Any pressure helps.”
Climber is allowed to leave the country against security payment
Unlike other people accused of “Mohabereh”, Parvari now, six months later, does not have to expect execution. The accusation earned him ten of the 15 years in prison. He was sentenced to a further five years in prison for endangering public safety.
In January, the IOC announced that the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, had unsuccessfully asked for mercy from the Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in December. The organization went on to say that it was “extremely concerned” about the situation in Iran.
In February, the president of the Iranian NOK was invited to Lausanne. After the most recent meeting of the IOC Executive on Monday and Tuesday, IOC Director James MacLeod only mentioned when asked that the situation of athletes in Iran had been addressed again. The fact that climber Elnaz Rekabi, for example, who competed in the Asian Championships in Seoul in autumn without a hejab, is now allowed to travel to Europe again for competitions, is seen as a “positive step”.
As the Reuters news agency reported on June 9, citing Iranian media, Rekabi had to deposit financial security with the Ministry of Sports. The portal IranWire calls the sum of 10 billion rials, about 20,000 dollars.
MacLeod said the IOC was not aware of these reports, but that the Iranian NOC had committed to looking at this practice “with the state bodies and the national sports federations at the next General Assembly in the face of an increasing number of athletes leaving Iran”. “
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The fundamentalist rulers continue to try to enforce their discriminatory worldview and value system in other sports as well. The President of the Iranian Athletics Association, Hashem Siami, resigned in early May. Regime officials had lamented the moral decay caused by the participation of runners without a headscarf in a running event in the city of Shiraz in the central Iranian province of Fars.
The public prosecutor’s office announced an investigation against the organizers of the run. Amnesty International said on June 2 that at least 282 people had been executed by the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2023.
