Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) on Wednesday called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to bar Iran from this summer's Paris Olympics, citing allegations of human rights abuses against the country.
Mr Blackburn said Iran's “evil regime” should not be allowed to compete on the world stage.
Iran “systematically victimizes its own people, especially women and girls. Violence pervades every aspect of Iranian women's lives,” she wrote in a letter to IOC President Thomas Bach. mentioned in.
“Athletes are not immune to persecution in Iran. In fact, there is only one female Olympic medalist in Iran, Kimia Alizadeh,” she continued. “This disparity is not due to a lack of talent. Rather, it is a direct result of the oppression and abuse faced by female athletes in Iran, the very oppression and abuse that later drove Alizadeh into exile.”
The IOC has previously banned countries from participating in the Olympics, most recently banning Russia and Belarus from the Paris Olympics in October due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia had previously been banned from the competition due to an athlete doping scandal.
The IOC said athletes from Russia and Belarus would be allowed to compete as “neutral individual athletes.” Mr Blackburn called for Iranian players to be treated similarly.
“The Iranian regime will not allow any withdrawal from the Games unless they meet the standards and ideals of Olympism by allowing all Iranian athletes, regardless of gender or political persuasion, to compete freely and without persecution. Nor should he take the glory,” Blackburn wrote.
The organization has previously allowed other independent groups of athletes to compete, including a team of refugee athletes, primarily from South Sudan, in 2016. The larger team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics included several Iranian-born athletes.
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