Sanction applied to the Islamic Republic of Iran Judo Federation, following the recommendations of the CAS Award / IJF.org

The IJF Disciplinary Commission highlighted the severity of the breaches committed by IRIJF as per paragraph 121 of the CAS Panel statement: “Furthermore, in the Panel’s view, the present case does not concern a unique event but rather involves a scheme whereby the Athlete was required to lose before even getting to the point where he had to face an Israeli athlete in an attempt to disguise the underlying true motive from the IJF and the public. In addition, this matter has shown the combined involvement of the IRI NOC, the Ministry of Sports of the IRI, as well as the IRIJF, which clearly reveals an institutionalised scheme. Finally, this scheme violates principles that are of paramount importance as they form part of the Fundamental Principles of Olympism, as provided for in the Olympic Charter. As a result, the Panel finds that the violations committed by the Appellant undoubtedly qualify as a ‘serious breach within the meaning of Article 28.1 of the IJF Statutes'. Accordingly, the Appellant could validly be imposed a suspension or an expulsion.”

The CAS Panel recommendations to return the case to the IJF Disciplinary Commission were followed and the Disciplinary Commission relied exclusively on the IJF Disciplinary Code when establishing the appropriate sanction.

The IJF Disciplinary Commission pronounced against the Iran Judo Federation a provisional withdrawal of its status as IJF member and all its affiliated components for four (4) years, from 18 September 2019 until 17 September 2023, as follows:

“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by the CAS panel, the Disciplinary Commission considers that the status of IJF member of IRIJF should be provisionally withdrawn (with all affiliate components) for a period of four years, i.e. a full Olympiad.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 18 September 2019 as per the Disciplinary Commission’s decision of even date and the subsequent decision of 22 October 2019, the Disciplinary Commission finds it appropriate under art. 13 of the IJF Disciplinary Code that the start date of the provisional withdrawal be backdated to 18 September 2019. The Disciplinary Commission considers that this sanction, especially given the backdating and the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic (which led to no competition being organised for most of 2020), is proportionate to the extremely severe offenses committed by IRIJF.”

The International Judo Federation continues to defend the fundamental human values and rights of all its members, with a special emphasis on the rights of athletes and reiterates its commitment to fight against any form of discrimination in the sport of Judo.