War, Peace, and the Tragedy of Sports in Iran

Iranian athletes are trapped between a brutal regime at home and an Israeli government bent on its destruction—with death and misery the only constant on either side.

Welcome to Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us. Our mission is to offer an independent platform for accessible journalism that raises awareness and empowers understanding.

If you share this vision, please consider supporting us by joining our community and becoming a paid subscriber. We are currently running a special offer whereby you can secure a subscription at a fixed, discounted price.

---

---

In September 2020, Iran executed Navid Afkari, an Iranian wrestler who confessed to crimes allegedly under torture that included participating in the 2018 anti-regime demonstrations.

Afkari and his brother were arrested in September 2018 on dozens of charges that include insulting Iran’s supreme leader, robbery, “enmity against God,” and murder. Iran’s Supreme Court upheld a death sentence by a criminal court in Shiraz against Navid and a 25-year prison sentence for Vahid for assisting in the alleged murder, despite evidence that they were tortured into confessing.

The case drew international attention and widespread condemnation from nation states and sports leagues alike. International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach said he is “extremely concerned” about the case, and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) requested that “the life of sportsman Navid Afkari will be spared.” UFC President Dana White even called on U.S. President Donald Trump to intervene to save Afkari’s life.

Despite the outcry of support and demands for a fair retrial, Afkari’s life was not spared. His tragic case became yet another example of the Iranian regime’s cruel disregard for human rights, and its defiance in the face of Western opposition.

I remember writing about Afkari’s case at the time. Sadly, it wasn’t the last time I wrote about an Iranian athlete facing the wrath of their regime.

Amin Bazrgar, another Iranian wrestler, went missing in August 2021, a day after he took to Instagram to protest the September 2020 execution of Afkari. Then in 2023, Iran executed a karate champion who was charged with killing a soldier during the nationwide protests triggered following the death of Mahsa Jina Amini. The 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman was detained and tortured by Iran’s morality police for allegedly showing too much hair beneath her compulsory veil. She died in custody, triggering Iran’s longest anti-government protests since the 1979 revolution that transformed the country into an Islamic theocracy.

Mohammad Mehdi Karami—a Kurdish-Iranian karate champion—was among the protestors who took the streets. He later was arrested and charged with murder in a sham trial that was condemned by human rights organizations, as well as the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

There are others like Afkari and Karami. Ali Mozaffari, a professional volleyball player, was shot and killed by security forces during the 2022 protests. Mohammad Ghaemi Far, the goalkeeper for an under-21 soccer club in Dezful, Khuzestan province, was cornered in a dead-end alley on October 22, 2022 during a street protest and shot in the back of the head. National bodybuilding champion Ehsan Ghasemifar was killed by security forces during the protests. Others, like footballer Amir Reza Nasr-Azadani was sentenced to 26 years in prison on the charge of “waging war” on the Iranian state by participating in the Amini protests.

The Iranian regime managed to weather the nationwide protests calling for its desolation. It deployed its notorious security forces, who used live ammunition to suppress demonstrations and crush dissent. It arrested journalists, lawyers, activists, and members of ethnic minorities accused of having ties to the protest movement. Many of those arrested were subjected to torture and ill-treatment and tried in secret before Islamic revolutionary courts in proceedings that violated basic due process standards. Some were later executed.

Then came October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants orchestrated an attack on southern Israel that killed about 1200 people, as well as the abduction of approximately 250 hostages. The attack—the largest on Israeli soil—triggered a massive Israeli military response amounting to ethnic cleansing, killing more than 50,000 Palestinians and displacing more than 2 million others. Iran, a theocratic authoritarian state that is among the world’s biggest sponsors of Islamic militancy internationally, was inevitably sucked into the conflict.