The president of Iran’s Wrestling Federation, Alireza Dabir, says he was left with “no alternative however to cancel” an Iran-US meet after a number of visa purposes submitted by the Iranian delegation have been rejected by American authorities.
In a letter to his American counterpart, Dabir lamented the truth that he and 5 others had been denied their visas and have been, due to this fact, unable to make it to the occasion in Arlington, Texas, scheduled for Feb. 12.
The federation chief additionally complained about what he described as US authorities’ “offensive” therapy of one of many Iranian candidates, who had been “interviewed interrogation-style for 5 hours” on the American consulate in Dubai.
With no formal diplomatic ties between Tehran and the US, each Iranian and American visa candidates are required to use by way of third-party missions to go to the opposite nation.
Nonetheless, the Sydney Olympic medalist supplied the American workforce a go to to Iran, promising them “that my fellow hospitable and wrestling-loving Iranians will welcome you with open arms.”
Dabir didn’t specify whether or not US visa officers had defined the grounds on which the purposes had been turned down.
However the former champion has been grabbing headlines, sparking controversy and alluring criticism within the run-up to the now-canceled occasion.
Throughout a televised interview in early January, the federation president went political as he expressed his admiration for Iran’s high common commander, Qasem Soleimani, killed in a US airstrike two years in the past.
“We maintain chanting ‘loss of life to America,’ however what counts is that we exhibit that in motion,” he mentioned in reference to the slogan that has been on the core of the Islamic Republic’s revolutionary, anti-Western ideology.
Amid the rising criticism in the US, Dabir acquired the blessing of Iranian officers. The spokesperson for the nation’s Overseas Ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, defended the previous wrestler by calling on American authorities to desert “the politicization of sports activities.”
Nonetheless, amongst abnormal Iranians, Dabir’s remarks have been interpreted way more completely different. Many questioned his “loss of life to America remarks” as an express contradiction of the truth that he was already holding a US inexperienced card.
But once more, he got here out on stay tv in his personal protection, saying he had relinquished his citizenship and handed again his inexperienced card to US officers a number of years in the past, telling them “I don’t like your country.”
The visa rejection debate additionally stirred up the case of Navid Afkari, the wrestler who was executed by Iranian authorities in 2020 regardless of loud worldwide outcries to halt the decision.
Afkari was arrested after collaborating in an anti-government rally in 2017. He was discovered responsible of killing a safety official on the similar demonstration. And the proceedings have been primarily based on confessions that, he mentioned, had been coerced below excessive torture methods.
“The Wrestling Federation and [its president] Alireza Dabir neglected Navid Afkari hanging to dry, when he was languishing in solitary confinement,” tweeted the previous coach of Iran’s Greco-Roman wrestling workforce, Sardar Pashaei, who resides in exile in the US.
“Right now, Dabir and his companions have been denied entry into the US soil. … This small victory is devoted to the harmless soul of champion Navid Afkari,” Pashaei mentioned.
