World
The World Cup rules on flag ban after emergency meeting
Fans will not be allowed to bring Iran’s pre-revolution flag into World Cup stadiums after a judge upheld FIFA’s ban in an emergency hearing. With the same colours as the current official flag, the pre-revolutionary flag has a different lion-and-sun motif and is historically associated with the country’s previous Shah-led regime. The pre-revolutionary flag has been used by Iranians, in the USA and worldwide, as a symbol of protest and standing against the current regime.
It comes after The Institute for Voice of Liberty and Iranian fan Sam Kermanian had asked the Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Curtis A. Kin to issue a temporary restraining order against the ban. However, during an expedited hearing on Monday, Kin ruled that the ban should be allowed to stand, The Athletic reports.
He said: “Free speech is incredibly important, it is sacred, a bedrock of our society, but it is not without limitation, such as private actor, on private property, and as shown by previous cases, regulating in reasonable way. I deny the application.”
FIFA prohibits flags or apparel of a political nature.
As The Independent reports, Article 3.1.243 of their Stadium Code of Conduct states: “Any materials, including but not limited to banners, flags, fliers, apparel and other paraphernalia, that are of a political, offensive and/or discriminatory nature, containing wording, symbols or any other attributes aimed at discrimination of any kind against a country, private person or group on account of race, skin colour, ethnicity, national or social origin, gender identity and expression, disability, language, religion, political opinion or any other opinion, birth, wealth or any other status, sexual orientation or on any other grounds.”
Despite the ruling, several fans inside SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, which has the largest Iranian population outside of Iran, were still carrying the banned flag. Shahrokh Mokhtarzadeh, Kermanian’s attorney, told USA TODAY Sports that Kin’s ruling was on the request for a restraining order only.
“The pending lawsuit is not over yet,” Mokhtarzadeh said in an email.
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