A longtime critic of the Iranian regime and the former head of the rogue state’s national wrestling team is urging sports organizations to ban Iran from competing, just weeks after Tehran executed thousands of anti-government protesters.
The sport of wrestling – a national pastime in Iran – has been hit hard by the Iranian regime’s massacre of protesters seeking to end 47 years of Islamist totalitarian rule in the country. The clerical regime has killed Parsa Lorestani, a 15-year-old protester and wrestler from the city of Zagheh in western Iran, according to a Friday report by London-based independent news organization Iran International. A government sniper killed Lorestani in the city of Khorramabad during a protest on January 8. The outlet showed a video of the young boy wrestling.
Wrestling champion Saleh Mohammadi will soon be executed in Iran for taking part in a protest, as international pressure mounts to save the athlete. (The Foreign Desk)
“Another wrestler murdered. Erfan Kari was 20. A champion,” Iranian-American Sardar Parshei, former head coach of Iran’s national Greco-Roman wrestling, wrote on his X account on Friday. “He could have been an Olympian. Instead, the Islamic regime shot him for protesting. Other wrestlers are still in prison. Be their voice. Save them.”
Prominent dissident Masih Alinejad announced to her 786,800 followers on Friday in takes a principled stand.”
IRAN ENCLOSES NATION IN ‘DARKER’ DIGITAL BLACKOUT, AND VISITS INTERNET AS AN ‘EXISTENTIAL THREAT’
Alinejad noted that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is recognized as a terrorist organization by the US and the European Union, controls all aspects of Iranian society, including sports.
“FIFA, the International Olympic Committee and all global sports organizations must refuse to legitimize a system that slaughters its own people and athletes because it demands freedom and human dignity,” Alinejad said. “Boycott the Islamic Republic from all international sports competitions.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sits next to a senior military official in Iran. (Getty Images)
TRUMP THREATENS IRAN WITH CRUSHING RESPONSE IF TEHRAN DENIES STOPPING PROTEST EXECUTIONS
“It is with a very sad and heavy heart that I speak for the Iranian people and the terrible situation currently unfolding in my homeland,” she said. “As a young girl in Iran during the 1979 revolution, I vividly remember the feeling of the clock being turned back a hundred years as women’s freedoms and basic human rights were taken away overnight.”
Roshanzamir Johnston said female women are being denied the basic right to participate in athletics, and young male wrestlers are being tortured and executed.
“We can no longer turn a blind eye to this brutality,” she said. “It is time for a call to action: we must find a way to put unmistakable pressure on the regime to put an end to these mass killings, without depriving our athletes of their hard-earned opportunities. The world must stand with the Iranian people before more of our bravest souls are lost.”
IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER ACKNOWLEDGES THOUSANDS KILLED AS TRUMP CALLS FOR NEW LEADERSHIP: REPORTS
Sepehr Ebrahimi was shot dead by security forces on January 11 during anti-regime protests near Tehran. (Simay Azadi/ National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI))
“We will continue to work with our Olympic stakeholders to help where we can, often through quiet sports diplomacy. The IOC remains in contact with the Olympic community from Iran.”
LEAKED DOCUMENTS REVEAL KHAMENEI’S SECRET DEADLY BLUEPRINT FOR DESTROYING IRAN PROTESTS
Dan Russell, executive director of US-based organization Wrestling for Peace, said sports and diplomacy can be complicated, but athletes must stand together in the current situation.
“Neutrality cannot mean indifference when lives are at stake,” Russell said. “Sport must take a stand for peace, respect and human dignity.”
“Every option must be considered to demand an immediate halt to the executions, the release of imprisoned wrestlers such as Saleh Mohammadi and Alireza Nejati, and basic protections for athletes who speak with a conscience,” Russell added. “Athletes who represent the best of who we are as a wrestling family.”
RUBIO WITHDRAWS TRAVEL RIGHTS OF Iranian OFFICIALS OVER DEADLY PROTEST CRACKDOWN, THOUSANDS DEAD
But not all critics of Tehran’s brutal regime are in favor of a ban on sports competitions in Iran.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“I am not in favor of banning the Iranian wrestling team,” said Potkin Azarmehr, a British-Iranian expert on the Islamic Republic. “If the Iranian wrestling team participates, it will be an opportunity for more defections and protests against the regime by the spectators, which will be televised and also reach millions of viewers in Iran.”
“The ban would just be a blanket victimization of other wrestlers who have trained long hours for this,” he added. “That said, the IOC and UWW should make a statement and ensure that spectators are allowed to show photos of the fallen wrestlers.”
