(Reuters) – Yesterday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) lifted the indefinite suspension imposed on the Iranian Judo Federation for pressuring one of their fighters not to face an Israeli athlete.
The International Judo Federation (IJF) commended Iran in October for putting pressure on fighter Saeid Mollaei to withdraw from the world championships to avoid a potential final against Israeli rival Sagi Muki.
Mollaei, the 2018 judo world champion, subsequently fled from Iran for Germany where he was granted refugee status, and later became a Mongolian citizen.
Iran appealed against the IJF’s decision to CAS, which has ruled that while Iran committed “serious crimes”, the unlimited restraint imposed on the country had no legal basis in the IJF regulations.
“The CAS Panel decided that (Iran) had broken serious IJF rules and should be subject to sanctions that comply with IJF regulations,” the court said in a statement.
“However, the CAS Panel concluded that the type of penalty (unlimited suspension) imposed… had no legal basis… Accordingly, the Panel partially upheld the appeal and quashed the decision taken by a Disciplinary Commission the IJF.
“The matter was then referred back to the IJF Disciplinary Commission for its further decisions.”