The International Judo Federation on Thursday slapped Iran with a four-year ban from its matches, citing "repeated and severe breaches" of the organization's statutes and the values of Olympism. The move was a conclusion of IJF proceedings against the Islamic republic in the wake of its orders to judoka Saeid Mollaei to avoid facing an opponent from Israel at the 2019 World Championships in Tokyo.
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The Iranian National Olympic Committee had initially promised to respect the IJF's non-discrimination rules but Mollaei was told to pull out because he could face Israel's Sagi Muki in the final. The defending champion had defied an order from Iranian sports authorities to drop out of the under-81kg competition and later said he was afraid to return to Iran after exposing and criticizing its pressure on him to deliberately lose in the World Championships.
In August 2019, he moved to Europe with a two-year visa from Germany, and in December 2019, he became a citizen of Mongolia.
Thursday's suspension was the second time the IJF has imposed sanctions on the Iran Judo Federation in the case. Iran was suspended from all tournaments immediately after the incident, but the ban was later lifted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled that "sanctions compliant with the IJF regulations should be imposed."
In its March 1 ruling, the CAS panel concluded that "the IRIJF could validly be imposed a suspension or an expulsion." The CAS asked the IJF to revisit the case. The sport's governing body has now "provisionally withdrawn the status of the IRIJF as an IJF member for four years, from Sept. 18, 2019, until Sept. 17, 2023."
In a statement explaining the ruling, the IJF said, "In view of the repeated and very severe breaches of the IJF statutes and the fundamental principles of Olympism committed by IRIJF as acknowledged by the CAS panel, the Disciplinary Commission considers that the status of IJF member of IRIJF should be provisionally withdrawn (with all affiliate components) for a period of four years, i.e. a full Olympiad.
"As the IRIJF has already served a period of (protective) suspension from September 18, 2019 as per the Disciplinary Commission's decision of even date and the subsequent decision of October 22, 2019, the Disciplinary Commission finds it appropriate under article 13 of the IJF Disciplinary Code that the start date of the provisional withdrawal be backdated to September 18 2019."
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