Owing to a legal effort to ban Iran due to its brutal crackdown on women and demonstrators, the United States national soccer team may not play against the Islamic Republic of Iran in November’s men’s World Cup in Qatar.
‘It is indisputable that the behavior of the Iranian Football Federation towards women within the Iranian Football hemisphere completely contravenes FIFA’s gender equality and gender justice agenda and is without a doubt a clear violation of FIFA’s laws,’ the letter, which was sent to Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA (International Federation of Association Football), reads.
The letter continued, “We implore FIFA Council to take responsibility and issue a decision suspending the Iranian Football Federation’s membership until they take necessary measures to ensure women can enter stadiums nationwide and participate in all FIFA competitions.”
Iranian dissidents, including top athletes, “who are concerned about the current situation in Iran,” brought the lawsuit. Since Mahsa Amini, an Iranian-Kurdish woman, 22, was allegedly killed by the theocratic regime’s morality police last month, Iran has been engulfed in protests against the government.
FIFA is being urged by a group to exclude the regime from the World Cup as Iran targets athletes over growing protests.
Amini’s family and human rights advocates were outraged by the Iranian regime’s assertion that she had a heart attack and angrily refuted it. Amini was detained by the state’s notorious morality police for disobeying a strict Islamic clothing rule that required her to cover her hair.
There are two legal routes, according to the Spanish law company that specializes in sports law, to bar the Islamic Republic from the World Cup in Qatar. Each Member Association shall administer its business independently and without undue interference from outside parties, states Article 19 of the FIFA Statutes.
According to the lawsuit, Iran’s government improperly influences the country’s national team. In 2006, Iran itself was suspended by FIFA due to government interference, the letter claims. The FIFA demanded the reinstatement of the Iranian Football Federation’s president after it was determined that doing so violated the organization’s member association independence standards.
According to the letter, “To the extent we have observed, the FA {Football Association of Iran} members are carrying out the broader government’s repressive agenda and functioning as its custodians; this contradicts the entire idea of independence.”
Despite news that Iran has resumed allowing women into sporting venues in 2019, the lawsuit nevertheless broached the subject. Suppose, as they would argue, that women are not permitted in stadiums across the nation and that the Iranian FA has nothing to do with it and is merely following official regulations. In that case, they are not impartial and unaffected by outside forces. This violates Article 19.
Despite claims of abuse of human rights in Qatar, the White House will send an official US delegation to the World Cup.
The second legal avenue taken by the Spanish law firm concerns alleged transgressions of FIFA anti-discrimination rules. The letter claims that it is against FIFA Statutes and Regulations to exclude all women from visiting stadiums and taking part in World Cup activities.
The legal letter was received by FIFA, according to information obtained by Fox News Digital. A Fox News press request filed on Thursday night was not immediately answered by the FIFA, which has its headquarters in Switzerland.
“The current civic turmoil and protests in Iran have evolved into a global movement and phenomenon,” the letter declared. At this point, it goes beyond Iran, and Iranian women have taken on a universal significance as a representation of the subjugation of women. It is a huge betrayal by FIFA to all women around the world, especially to those who have been martyrs in the fight against the oppression of women, to allow the Iranian men’s team to compete in the World Cup while their FA continues to suppress women’s rights and deny them any type of participation in international football. Additionally, it is a betrayal of FIFA, its principles, and the years of work and resources invested in promoting women’s football.
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Sardar Pashaei, a former national coach for Greco-Roman wrestling in Iran who is now a citizen of the United States, is one of the signatories to the lawsuit. “The Islamic Republic of Iran’s government is executing protesting youths in Iranian streets, imprisoning and torturing athletes, while at the same time the regime wants to be a full member of the global sports community,” he claimed in an interview with Fox News Digital. This is incorrect.
The same hometown of Saqqez as Amini, Pashaei is of Iranian and Kurdish descent. She stated, “Women are not allowed to participate in various sports because they cannot be properly covered.” Neither can they even go to stadium-based sporting activities.
“Civilized nations are sending the incorrect message to future generations of athletes if the world’s sporting organizations and federations do not stand up for human ideals and human rights,” he continued. This is my message to FIFA: Iranian demonstrators’ blood is on the flag of the Islamic Republic. Iran’s multicolored flag should be taken down and replaced with a crimson banner.
