The Iranian diaspora athletic organization, United for Navid, over the past week sent letters to FIFA, the world’s governing body of soccer, and to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), urging the suspension of Iran’s regime from sports competition due to Tehran’s violent crackdown on athletes amid protests against the autocrat state.

United for Navid asked Mattias Grafström, the FIFA deputy secretary general, to boot Iran from international competition, including the upcoming November World Cup in Qatar.

“FIFA has banned Russia from participating in international competitions because of its invasion of Ukraine and its violation of human rights. We respect this stance that FIFA has taken and that it will not tolerate the senseless killing and torturing of thousands of innocent civilians. We Iranian athletes ask that you apply the same to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” wrote United for Navid.

The sports organization added “Iran is brutally killing and torturing protestors and is oppressing women by criminalizing watching football [soccer] or showing a few strands of hair. FIFA’s silence is an endorsement of these human rights violations.”

The former Iranian Greco-Roman national coach and American Sardar Pashaei oversees the United for Navid campaign. The IOC has faced criticism from United for Navid over its failure to punish Iran’s regime for its repression of athletes.

In the letter to the IOC, United for Navid wrote “The safety of Iranian athletes requires immediate action to avoid the past being repeated. We urge to stand by your values and recent ICO Strategic Framework on Human Rights and immediately suspend the Islamic Republic of Iran from all Olympic qualifiers and games. We acknowledge that this decision acutely impacts the lives and careers of Iranian athletes. The accountability of these egregious human rights violations are not theirs to bare however inaction on your behalf would be an endorsement of these violations.”

United for Navid said in its letter “The Iranian government’s targeting of their own athletes and women in the sporting arena has been long ongoing with little redress. You will recall that we wrote to you when security forces outside stadiums beat our female fans for attempting to enter athletic arenas.”

The organization of exiled star Iranian athletes added in its letter to Bach: “We wrote to you for Sahar Khodayari, our ‘Blue Girl,’ who never achieved her dream of watching her favorite team play. Sahar set herself on fire in protest of her jail sentence for attempting to enter the stadium.”

The United for Navid letter noted that on Tuesday Iran’s regime ordered Karim Bagheri, the head coach of the Persepolis soccer club, including athletes from the national team (Soroush Rafiei, Kamal Saghamnia, Alireza Biranvand, Farshad Faraji, Milad Sarlak, Mortezapour Aliganji, Siamak Nemati and Hamed Pakdel) “to appear at one of the Iranian security institutions for interrogation and provide explanations for their media posts in support of the nationwide protests.”

The Iranian foreign ministry and its mission to the United Nations declined to answer Fox News Digital press queries.

Rob Koehler, director general of Global Athlete, a sports organization seeking to advance the rights of athletes, told Fox News “In 2020 athletes from around the world called on the IOC to help save the life of innocent human, an athlete, and a wrestler Iranian Navid Afkari. Navid was murdered by the government for peacefully protesting yet the IOC refused to suspend the Iran National Olympic Committee for this heinous murder.”

He added “As history repeats itself, Iran is once again using their athletes popularity to set an example against protesting the Iranian government. This attempt to penalize an athlete for using their voice must be stopped. Just this week the Iranian athletes again reiterated their call for the IOC to suspend the Iran National Olympic Committee. If the IOC does nothing, it’s clear that their new Strategic Framework on Human Rights is not worth the paper it is written on, and they remain complicit with their lack of action.”

Source » foxnews