The Islamic Republic of Iran has once again blatantly violated one of the most fundamental rules of international sport. Weightlifter Mostafa Rajai has been banned for life for shaking hands with an Israeli competitor at the World Senior Men’s Championships in Poland.
“The Weightlifting Federation has banned athlete Mostafa Rajai from all sports facilities in the country for life and dismissed the head of the delegation for the competition, Hamid Salehinia,” state-run Irna news agency quoted a decision as saying.
Contact with Israelis prohibited
Rajai, who represented Iran at the 2015 Asian Championships, shook hands with Israeli weightlifter Maksim Svirsky on Saturday. Both stood on the podium at an event of the Worldmasters series in Wieliczka, Poland. According to Irna, Rajai “crossed a red line”.
The Islamic Republic of Iran prohibits its athletes from any contact with Israelis. The ban, introduced after the 1979 revolution and the rise of the Islamists to power, violates the Olympic Charter and the regulations of all Olympic federations.
Bertram Job, Breslau Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 3 Anno Hecker Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 4 Michael Reinsch Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 32
Nevertheless, the discriminatory practice that has been pursued for decades has rarely led to sanctions against Iranian sports associations. In recent years, only the international judo federation IJF had excluded Iran after it forced judoka Saeid Mollaei not to compete against Israeli Sagi Muki at the 2019 World Championships. The Iranian Judo Federation has been suspended for four years since 2021.
