Sport

Iranwire – Amin Bazrgar, a renowned Iranian wrestler, went missing in August 2021, a day after he took to Instagram to protest the September 2020 execution of another wrestler, Navid Afkari. “Our silence is a betrayal,” Bazrgar wrote. In September last year, security forces told Barzgar’s family that several of his bones were discovered in a mountain in Shiraz province.  …

Iranwire – Lawyer Babak Paknia confirmed on July 31 that a court has confirmed the death sentence against Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, a 27-year-old boxer arrested for taking part in nationwide unrest in November 2019. Paknia said that Branch 4 of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court issued the death sentence in first instance, but the Supreme Court overturned the ruling and …

Iranwire – Iranian women athletes who participated in last year’s nationwide protests or took stands against the Islamic Republic’s compulsory headscarf rules have been forced to back down from their beliefs under the pressure of the Ministry of Sports and Youth as well as the security and intelligence agencies, IranWire has learned.  Through interviews with relatives of several athletes and …

Al-Monitor – A group of rights experts and nongovernmental organizations called on the United Nations to intervene and stop the execution of Iranian boxing champion Mohammad Javad Vafaei-Sani, Agency France Presse (AFP) reported on Thursday. In a letter sent overnight, which was seen by Agence France-Presse, a total of 85 international rights advocates and groups, including a former head of the International …

alarabiya – Women in Iran, who have long been barred from attending football matches except for rare occasions, will be allowed into stadiums during the upcoming season, a top official said Sunday. “This year, one of the prominent features of this league… is that we will witness the entry of women into stadiums,” said Mehdi Taj, head of Iran’s Football …

Iranwire – On June 27, 1981, exactly one day before a powerful bomb went off at the headquarters of the Islamic Republican Party in Tehran, killing 74 leading officials of the Islamic Republic, an assassination attempt targeted today’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as he was making a speech in a mosque. A bomb placed in a tape recorder exploded in …

VOA —Andy Murray said he had an emotional meeting with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who spent six years in an Iranian jail cell, after inviting her to watch him from the royal box at Wimbledon on Tuesday. British-Iranian Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Murray became friends after she said in an interview last year that watching the Scot win Wimbledon on television in 2016 helped …

Iranwire – Iranian authorities have disqualified the only woman candidate for the post of president of the Islamic Republic of Iran Wrestling Federation, adding to growing concerns regarding the fairness and inclusivity of electoral processes within Iranian sports institutions. A source with knowledge of the matter told IranWire that Muna Mirzaei has been barred from running by the “relevant authorities” …

VOA – The head of Iran’s athletics federation resigned Sunday over a sporting event featuring women without the mandatory headscarf, state media reported, as the Islamic republic toughens enforcement of hijab rules. “Hashem Siami resigned from his post due to the controversies that arose from the endurance (running) race organized in Shiraz” in Iran’s south, the official news agency IRNA …

Al-Monitor – As the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris approach, Iran’s female athletes are speaking out publicly about the inequities in their professional journey, at a time the world is paying attention to the general trend of discrimination against women in Iran.   After Iran women’s national soccer team defeated Myanmar in April to make its way to the second round of the 2024 Olympic …