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Society & Culture

Champions Behind Bars

January 10, 2015
Saman Ranjbar
8 min read
Ehsan Khorsandi, former striker for Persepolis Football Team, was arrested during a 2009 demonstration.
Ehsan Khorsandi, former striker for Persepolis Football Team, was arrested during a 2009 demonstration.
Ping pong player Farshid Fathi was imprisoned for converting to Christianity
Ping pong player Farshid Fathi was imprisoned for converting to Christianity
Farshid Fathi, the Christian convert, with his family
Farshid Fathi, the Christian convert, with his family
Saeed Masouri, former ping pong champion and coach, is serving a life sentence
Saeed Masouri, former ping pong champion and coach, is serving a life sentence
Jamal Ameli won chess the championship at Evin Prison
Jamal Ameli won chess the championship at Evin Prison
“Mahan” Mohammadi, Evin’s Sports Icon
“Mahan” Mohammadi, Evin’s Sports Icon
Ibrahim Mirzaei was a martial arts innovator whose followers have been imprisoned many times
Ibrahim Mirzaei was a martial arts innovator whose followers have been imprisoned many times
K2 conqueror Kazem Faridian was arrested at a protest after the 2009 presidential election
K2 conqueror Kazem Faridian was arrested at a protest after the 2009 presidential election
K2 climber Kazem Faridian (front row, with beard and wearing a white shirt) during a 2009 show trial
K2 climber Kazem Faridian (front row, with beard and wearing a white shirt) during a 2009 show trial
Veteran mountaineer Bahman Shahvandi, who was arrested in 2009
Veteran mountaineer Bahman Shahvandi, who was arrested in 2009
Kickboxer Majid Jamali Fashi confessed to killing a nuclear scientist and was executed
Kickboxer Majid Jamali Fashi confessed to killing a nuclear scientist and was executed
Iranian TV used the confessions of Majid Jamali Fashi for propaganda purposes
Iranian TV used the confessions of Majid Jamali Fashi for propaganda purposes
Volleyballer Namdar Rahmani (No. 5) was arrested for supporting a Kurdish opposition party
Volleyballer Namdar Rahmani (No. 5) was arrested for supporting a Kurdish opposition party
Volleyballer Namdar Rahmani (last in line) was arrested for supporting a Kurdish opposition party
Volleyballer Namdar Rahmani (last in line) was arrested for supporting a Kurdish opposition party
Wrestling champion Ali Abbasi Jozdani was imprisoned in a ward with violent criminals
Wrestling champion Ali Abbasi Jozdani was imprisoned in a ward with violent criminals
Wrestling champion Ali Abbasi Jozdani was imprisoned alongside violent criminals
Wrestling champion Ali Abbasi Jozdani was imprisoned alongside violent criminals

Some will still remember the days following the Islamic Revolution, when, in a bid to maintain power and silence dissent, Iran’s new leaders targeted the guilty and innocent alike. Among them were political activists, but also celebrities: artists, filmmakers, actors, musicians, and athletes. Stars were summoned to court one by one or in groups. They were forced either into exile or to the confines of their homes.

The popular actress and singer Marjan was sent to prison for supporting the People’s Mojahedin Organization. Football legend Parviz Ghelichkhani escaped to Europe, where he continued his political activities. Habib Khabiri, a member of the National Football Team, was executed at Evin Prison.

The story continues. Over the last three decades, there have been numerous accounts of star athletes being put behind bars for their political or religious beliefs.

 

Ehsan Khorsandi

Ehsan Khorsandi, a former striker for Persepolis Football Team, was arrested along with friends on December 27, 2009. They had been taking part in a demonstration following the disputed presidential election earlier that year. Khorsandi was sent to Ward 7 at Evin Prison. “When they arrested him, the police did not know that he was a famous footballer,” one of Khorsandi’s cellmates recalls. “He later introduced himself to the interrogators. Had he not done so, perhaps he would not have been released for a long time.” At the time, he was playing for Pegah Football Club.

He was released on bail on February 2, 2010, thanks to the efforts of his team’s officials. At first, news agencies referred to him simply by his initials, E.K., but when it emerged that he had played for Persepolis, his case received considerable media attention and the media referred to him by his full name. Rumors about the case circulated, including one that he had been executed. 

“We were all worried, but kept our spirits up by talking about football,” remembers his former cellmate. “Ehsan told us stories about matches and famous players.”

 

Farshid Fathi: The Christian Fireball

Farshid Fathi, a ping pong player and a convert to Christianity, was arrested on December 26, 2010 and charged with “acting against national security through membership of a Christian organization, collection of funds, and propaganda against the Islamic Regime by helping spread Christianity in the country.”

After a long detention, he was sentenced to seven years in prison on March 5, 2012. His appeal was rejected. After years at Evin, he was exiled to Rajaei Shahr Prison in Karaj near Tehran, famous for housing violent criminals. Many prisoners of conscious are transferred to the prison as an added punishment.

“I came to know him at the detention center,” says Dr. Ali Rashidi, secretary of the Economists’ Society and a member of the leadership council of the secular opposition group the National Front. “I knew that his presence in the ward would change the atmosphere among our cellmates.”

Fathi started a table tennis tournament among the inmates of the communal Ward 350. In the finals, he played against the former parliament representative Mohsen Mir Damad.

Before his arrest, Fathi had been competing for a place in the National Table Tennis Team.

Another prisoner currently held at Rajaei Shahr is Saeed Masouri, a former ping pong champion and coach, who is serving a life sentence after his death penalty was rescinded. “If they had transferred Farshid to our ward, the duel between these two would have been wonderful to watch,” says a cellmate of Masouri. “Unfortunately, Farshid Fathi was sent to the gangsters’ ward.”

 

Hamid-Reza Mohammadi: Evin’s Sporting Icon

Hamid-Reza Mohammadi, also nicknamed Mahan, is serving a 13-year sentence at Evin Prison. He was arrested in March 2005 for his political activities and was sentenced to 13 years in prison. His brother, Gholam-Reza Mohammadi, is a wrestling champion and a former coach for Iran’s National Wrestling Team.

Among the political prisoners at Evin, sports and Mahan are practically synonymous. Besides promoting regular exercise in the prison, he succeeded in buying sports equipment with his own money and bringing it into the ward. According to former prisoners, political prisoners were banned from exercise and sports, but Mahan successfully broke the ban. “In those days the ward was not very crowded and there was an empty cell, which we used as a storeroom,” says one of his cellmates. “On his furlough Mahan obtained some body-building equipment and went to a lot of trouble to get permission to bring it in. Of course, later on, after the bloody raid [by guards in April 2014], they took it away.”

Mahan says he dabbled in boxing and wrestling before he went to prison. “I worked at them for four or five years,” he says, “but not in a professional manner. I did not take sports seriously, unlike social activities. But in prison I have tried hard to encourage my friends to exercise. It has been very effective in raising their morale in the face of imprisonment and deprivation.”

 

Bahador Alizadeh: Political Martial Arts

Martial arts athlete Bahador Alizadeh is also currently being held at Evin Prison. He was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment in 2013. He is a follower of Ibrahim Mirzaei, an air force officer under the Shah who developed Kung Fu To'a, a style of martial arts that combines Kung Fu and yoga, among other disciplines. Among his followers, Mirzaei is known as “the professor”.

Mirzaei disappeared about 20 years ago. There are reports that suggest that the security apparatus of the Islamic Republic got rid of him. But this has not stopped his followers from distributing statements in support of him. One of them is Bahador Alizadeh, who has been arrested four times for such activities.

“Bahador was a simple young man,” says a former cellmate of his. “He would exercise for one hour in the afternoons and then would run in the prison yard for a long time. A few times I asked him about Professor Mirzaei. His followers believe that although he has disappeared from view he is still alive. If so, he must be more than 100 years old!”

 

Mokhtar Salehi: Left out of the National Team

Before his arrest, Mokhtar Salehi was a member of Iran’s National Sailing Team and could have been a champion at the Asian Games. Instead, he was arrested three years ago and sentenced to 10 years in prison for spying.

Salehi, who is well built and has a characteristically Kurdish face, has tried to keep in shape while in prison. “He was very quiet and polite,” says a former cellmate of his. “He occupied his time by exercising. When the Olympic Games were going on, he talked about yachting and the National Sailing Team.”

Salehi once rowed next to champions such as Shahu Naseri, who won the silver medal in canoeing at the Asian Games in 2010. Salehi came second after Naseri in a national canoeing competition in 2007.

 

Kazem Faridian: K2 Conqueror in Chains

In 2007, Kazem Faridian became the first Iranian to climb the famous K2, the second highest mountain in the world after Everest, also known as Savage Mountain because it is extremely difficult to climb. Faridian’s tired and worn face was seen during the show trials of 2009, which followed the contested presidential election — an image that shocked the mountain climbing community in Iran.

He was arrested on June 16, 2008 along with other mountain climbers, including veteran climber Bahman Shahvandi. He was later released, but, according to one of his friends, he was haunted by the memories of his prison days. “Kazem shared a cell with two dangerous prisoners and noticed that they had their eyes on an underage boy,” his friend said. “Apparently one night they wanted to rape the boy and Kazem heard screams. He rushed to help him and discovered that the boy had cut the face of one of the thugs with a sharp object.”

 

Majid Jamali Fashi: A Casualty of WikiLeaks?

Majid Jamali Fashi, who won the bronze medal at the 2009 Pankration international kickboxing championship, was executed on May 15, 2012, charged with the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Masoud Ali-Mohammadi. Fashi had confessed on camera that he had been trained in Israel to carry out the assassination.

Whether the charge is true remains a mystery. In May 2012, The Times reported that Fashi might have been an accidental victim of WikiLeaks revelations, when confidential US government documents were made public. The report said that when Fashi traveled to the Azerbaijani capital Baku with the Iranian National Kickboxing Team, he may have informed the US embassy there about martial arts athletes who had helped to suppress uprisings in the aftermath of the 2009 presidential election, and that this information was leaked. Though the Wikileaks theory was later dismissed, there is still speculation that Fashi became a target for authorities following the Azerbaijan trip.

 

Ali Abbasi Jozdani: The Wrestler Bound

Ali Abbasi Jozdani, student activist and free-form wrestling champion, was arrested in summer 2009 after he participated in a protest against the disputed presidential election results outside Mazandaran University in northern Iran. He was sentenced to six months in prison and 15 lashes.

During his detention he was sent to the ward reserved for violent criminals. Despite his protests about the unsanitary conditions of the ward and stating that he was afraid for his life, prison officials refused to move him to another cell block.

 

Khosravi and Rahmani: The Missing Prisoners

In summer 2014, two Kurdish volleyball players joined the ranks of athletes imprisoned on political charges. Fateh Khosravi and Namdar Rahmani were charged with supporting Kurdish opposition parties and were arrested a few days apart from one other. Their fates and locations are not known.

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