In exile, prominent athletes are raising their voices against autocratic regimes. Athletes who have fled Iran are taking a big risk – including for their families.
The Iranian soccer players stand close together on a stage with bouquets of flowers. In front of them, hundreds of spectators clap in time to the celebratory music. Animated images show the players saluting on a screen, with historical buildings of the Islamic Republic rising behind them. The message that these images convey is clear: the prodigal daughters who refused to be tempted are back home.
Last week, Iranian footballers returned from the Asian Cup in Australia after an arduous journey. But the whole picture was not shown at the welcome ceremony in Tehran. Not a word about them forgoing the singing of the anthem before their first game. No word about the fact that seven players received humanitarian asylum in Australia, although five of them withdrew their applications. And not a word about the fact that two players are now living and training in exile Brisbane Roar. Without a headscarf, without surveillance.
Monitoring in the team hotel
“The Iranian regime is using the players for propaganda”says journalist Farid Ashrafian, who monitors the political situation in Iran from Germany. “Iranian state television claims that the players in Australia were coerced into applying for asylum.” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, wrote onTemptations of Iran’s enemies“They resisted. It is said that they confidently walked over the Israeli flag on their return.
The German-Iranian journalist Farid Ashrafian reports completely different circumstances with the help of his contacts: “The players were not allowed to move around freely in the hotel in Australia; the guards were always there.” Statements from human rights activists and Iranian exiles suggest that relatives of some players in Iran were intimidated and summoned.
The secret service is also active abroad
The Iranian regime is under more pressure than ever since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. And it wants to prevent prominent voices abroad from increasing this pressure at all costs. In the past, it was also refugee athletes in exile who took part in demonstrations or expressed their protests on social media.
One of the most famous voices in exile is the former national soccer player Ali Karimi, who has around 15 million followers on Instagram. Karimi receives death threats and has had to change his place of residence several times. Human rights organizations have documented many times that the Iranian secret service also takes action against opposition members in the diaspora through intimidation, spy software or reputational damage.
In Iran itself, Ali Karimi’s property was confiscated and his name was removed from honorary plaques. “The Islamic Republic wants to ensure that no more athletes leave the country“, says journalist Christoph Becker, who has been working on sport in Iran for a long time at the FAZ. “Athletes who want to take part in international competitions must deposit security in advance.“It’s about amounts of money, real estate, employment contracts.
Navratilova requests asylum during US Open
Repression, flight, exile. These themes have shaped the history of sport for generations. In October 1956, for example, a popular uprising broke out in Hungary, but was put down by the Soviet occupying army. At the 1956 Olympic Games, which took place shortly afterwards in Melbourne, the teams from Hungary and the Soviet Union met in water polo.
“It was one of the most brutal water polo games in history“says the journalist and author Martin Krauss.”And as a result, some Hungarian players have applied for political asylum in Australia.” In his sports history book “Being there would be everything,” Krauss describes several biographies of escaped athletes. And in it he also remembers a famous athlete.
In 1975, the young tennis player Martina Navratilova used her participation in the US Open as an escape. Her father is being interrogated in her homeland, Czechoslovakia. The media in the Eastern Bloc hardly report on their sporting successes anymore. “Czechoslovakia has revoked Navratilova’s citizenship“says Krauss.”She should be erased from memory and only regained her Czech citizenship in 2008.”
Sports associations set up programs
Athletes in exile continue to raise their voices today. The Turkish-born basketball player Enes Kanter, who was active in the NBA for a decade, criticizes the Turkish president Erdogan. Dzmitry Shershan, judoka from Belarus, fled to Germany in 2021 and has been committed to the exile community ever since. And a number of female footballers from Afghanistan moved to Australia after the Taliban came to power and are now active in leagues there.
Sport and exile, this topic is likely to become more important. The associations could make it easier for refugee athletes to integrate through support programs or the provision of psychologists, trainers and doctors. In 2015 the IOC called this Refugee Olympic Team into life. Since then, a growing number of refugee athletes have taken part in the Olympic Games. Sports associations have also set up programs and scholarships for refugees in other countries, such as Germany, Great Britain and Australia.
Another wrestler was executed
But do these programs go beyond symbolic politics? The IOC and other associations repeatedly include refugee athletes from Iran in their programs. At the same time, however, they rarely impose sanctions against Iranian sports associations, which are usually closely linked to the Revolutionary Guard, which has been classified as a terrorist organization in the USA and the European Union.
Just a few days ago, opposition members were executed again in Iran, apparently without a trial. The 19-year-old wrestler Saleh Mohammadi was among the victims. He is said to have been involved in the killing of police officers during protests in January. An accusation that he and others have rejected. The Islamic Republic’s surveillance apparatus still appears to be functioning. And so many Iranians, including athletes, see their future primarily in exile.
