Another Iranian wrestler was executed – and again the IOC responded with the same words.
Every time the International Olympic Committee speaks about the catastrophic human rights situation athletes face, it repeats the same line: we cannot change the laws of countries.
But Iranian athletes never asked you to change Iranian laws.
They asked you to act according to your own rules – and that if any member of the Olympic movement breaks those rules, you take action.
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When you talk about “verifying” an athlete’s execution, it is deeply disturbing. You run the risk of giving space to the story of a regime that executes a 19-year-old wrestler.
Iranian athletes did not ask you to investigate every case or verify every victim. They asked for something much simpler: if you can’t fulfill your duties and enforce your own rules, say so clearly and publicly.
Carefully chosen words and cautious statements do not protect the lives of athletes.
Our questions are simple:
Is denying access to many sports to more than 45 million women in Iran a violation of your principle of gender equality – yes or no?
Does forcing Iranian athletes, for almost half a century, to refuse competition against Israeli opponents violate your rules – yes or no?
OLYMPIANS SPEAK OUT AGAINST IRAN’S PUBLIC EXECUTION OF WRESTLER CHAMPION SALEH MOHAMMADI
Do arrest, torture, execution and silencing of athletes violate the Olympic Charter – yes or no?
The head of the Iranian National Olympic Committee is not an independent sports official. He is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps – a US-designated terrorist organization – and is a former bodyguard of the supreme leader.
If those who oversee athletes are connected to the same system that oppresses them, how can the Olympic Charter be enforced?
OLYMPIANS CONDEMN IOC FOR STATEMENT ON IRAN’S EXECUTION OF 19-YEAR-OLD WRESTLER SALEH MOHAMMADI
How many more athletes must be executed, and how many more must be killed, before your conscience is moved?
I speak as an athlete and national coach who was banned from competition and even from entering a wrestling hall. My younger brother, Saman, also a national team wrestler, was arrested, tortured and suffered brain damage.
As a child, I believed that the IOC was the home of athletes – a place where we learn humanity and sportsmanship.
But over time I started to see something different:
A place where relationships with governments are protected – even when athletes are not.
Let’s be honest. Appointing a few Iranian athletes, offering them symbolic positions or placing some in refugee teams does not replace responsibility.
We are realistic. The IOC’s mission is not to change governments.
But for Iranian athletes, their role has become something different: welcoming officials, overlooking obvious violations and remaining silent in the face of injustice.
In the loss of our opportunities and the destruction of our dreams by the Islamic regime, your silence has had consequences.
In locking up and killing athletes, your silence has had consequences.
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You spoke of ‘quiet diplomacy’.
Since the execution of Navid Afkari in 2020, athletes in Iran have been imprisoned, tortured, murdered in the streets or executed.
Your quiet diplomacy has not protected them.
It has given the regime the space to continue – without fear of consequences and without responsibility.
You were once an athlete. You knew what it meant to stand for something.
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These days you speak like politicians – and stay silent when it matters most.
And for athletes like Saleh Mohammadi, that silence comes too late.
