Iranian Olympic Official Claims Support for Rekabi Following Her Departure
Mehdi Alinejad, Secretary General of the Islamic Republic’s Olympic Committee, claimed that the federation supported Elnaz Rekabi after she left Iran for Spain
Mehdi Alinejad, Secretary General of the Islamic Republic’s Olympic Committee, claimed that the federation supported Elnaz Rekabi after she left Iran for Spain.
Alinejad said, “This athlete has always been supported by the National Olympic Committee. Where anyone chooses to live is their own decision.”
Elnaz Rekabi has been under intense security and intelligence pressure from the Islamic Republic since October 16, 2022, when she competed in an international competition in Seoul without wearing a headscarf.
Alinejad, the son of an oil industry executive, has maintained significant economic ties with Hossein Hedayati, a former brigadier general in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who later became involved in Iranian football.
Reports suggest he has grown closer to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s inner circle over the past decade.
His name has been linked to widespread doping cases involving Iranian wushu athletes, who were subsequently banned from international competitions.
He also collaborates with security and intelligence agencies in suppressing protesting athletes.
Which Supreme Leader Allies Were Involved in the Rekabi Family Abduction?
Elnaz Rekabi competed in the Asian Rock Climbing Championships on October 16, 2022, without wearing the mandatory hijab.
On October 17, news of her abduction by the Ministry of Sports’ security forces and her forced transfer to the Islamic Republic’s embassy in South Korea for mandatory return to Iran was revealed by IranWire and later reported in international media.
That same day, the IRGC arrested her brother, Davood Rekabi, to ensure Elnaz’s return to Iran.
Two sports officials were primarily involved in Elnaz Rekabi’s detention and forced return to Iran: Mahmoud Khosravivafa, President of the National Olympic Committee and former bodyguard of Ali Khamenei, and Esmail Ahmadi.
In January 2022, Faezeh Hashemi revealed Esmail Ahmadi’s role in sports, referring to him as “Commander Naghdi’s deputy” and identifying him as the controller of the Minister of Youth and Sports.
Previously, in September 2010, the IRNA news agency introduced Esmail Ahmadi as a Revolutionary Guard commander, comparing him to Reza Amirkhani, a writer close to the Islamic Republic. The agency described his speech to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as “tearful, full of passion and sincerity.”
The Rekabi family found themselves in the grip of such men just one day after Elnaz Rekabi appeared without a hijab in Seoul.
The actions of the Olympic Committee officials and the Ministry of Youth and Sports had such global repercussions that Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, requested direct communication with Elnaz Rekabi on October 17, 2022.
Hamid Sajjadi, then Minister of Sports and Youth in Ebrahim Raisi’s government, described Thomas Bach’s request to speak with an Iranian sports official or athlete as “unprecedented” and something that “doesn’t happen even once every hundred years.”
He added, “The President of the International Olympic Committee wanted to ensure her [Elnaz Rekabi’s] safety. Even after this contact, we had to send him a photo of our meeting to assure him that no harm had come to her.”
How Did Iran Secretly Pressure Elnaz Rekabi?
The harassment of Elnaz Rekabi’s family did not end with their abduction from Seoul and the arrest of her brother.
Elnaz Rekabi was under house arrest from the time of her return to Iran and was not allowed to leave her home or use her mobile phone until March 2023.
On December 2, 2022, government forces destroyed Elnaz and Davood Rekabi’s garden house in Zanjan Rood.
Videos of Davood Rekabi, Elnaz’s brother, wailing over the ruins of the house were widely circulated hours later.
Government agents had sprayed pepper spray in Davood Rekabi’s face and eyes during the demolition of the house.
Simultaneously with the destruction of this house, media reports stated that Elnaz and Davood Rekabi were fined 168 million tomans ($1,820 at the current exchange rate) by the Zanjan prosecutor’s office for unclear reasons.
Reza Zarei, President of the Islamic Republic’s Mountaineering Federation, said on July 16, 2023, that Elnaz Rekabi should have been suspended in 2022 for removing her mandatory hijab during an international competition in South Korea.
He said, “Last year, she did something that was not advisable. But we couldn’t suspend her because the International Olympic Committee and the International Mountaineering Federation were simultaneously monitoring her situation.”
He also stated that they had banned Elnaz Rekabi from leaving the country to prevent her from participating in international competitions again if possible.
The president of the Mountaineering Federation added, “If Elnaz Rekabi had been suspended, it might have led to the suspension and disqualification of the country’s sports.”
How Was Elnaz Rekabi’s Travel Ban Lifted?
In February 2023, the International Federation of Sport Climbing officially named Elnaz Rekabi as one of four rock climbing coaches participating in the “Women in Sport Training Course” in Britain, but the Overseas Council of the Ministry of Sports and Youth - which consists of security and intelligence forces from the Revolutionary Guards and the Ministry of Intelligence - prevented her from leaving the country.
The Islamic Republic’s Mountaineering Federation officially confirmed in March 2023 that it had not taken the necessary steps to obtain a British visa for Rekabi, thereby blocking her from traveling.
Rekabi’s travel ban was lifted only through the personal intervention of Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, in consultation with the International Mountaineering Federation.
In February 2025, the Islamic Republic’s Olympic Committee finally announced that, through the efforts of the President of the International Olympic Committee and the International Federation of Sport Climbing, Rekabi would participate in the Dakar Youth Olympic Games.
The Islamic Republic had to choose between keeping Elnaz Rekabi banned from travel - risking the suspension of Iranian sports - or allowing her to leave the country.
While neither media nor club officials have specifically named Mehdi Taj, who won the election, the Federation’s Ethics Committee has summoned the managers who made the corruption allegations and threatened media outlets with legal action
While neither media nor club officials have specifically named Mehdi Taj, who won the election, the Federation’s Ethics Committee has summoned the managers who made the corruption allegations and threatened media outlets with legal action
Iranian football managers said a candidate for the presidency of the Football Federation offered significant bribes before the March 1 election.
Iranian media reported allegations that a candidate offered 300 million tomans ($3,300) or expensive Swiss watches per vote.
While neither media nor club officials have specifically named Mehdi Taj, who won the election, the Federation’s Ethics Committee has summoned the managers who made the corruption allegations and threatened media outlets with legal action.
The Ethics Committee, responsible for investigating such cases, said the claims are “baseless” and constitute “disturbing public opinion, publishing falsehoods, and slander,” warranting legal consequences.
Taj received 72 votes from the 82 members present at the electoral assembly, securing his position for the next four years.
If bribes of 300 million tomans were offered to half the voters, the total would exceed 12 billion tomans ($130,500), raising questions about the financial benefits of holding the federation presidency.
How Much Did Votes Cost?
The website Didban Iran, on March 7, quoted Rasoul Khatibi, CEO of Paykan FC, saying, “Speak with Mr. Tafakkori or Rajaian, the CEO of Arak, they will tell you. Mr. Rajaian said they were offered fancy watches.”
He also told the media that many provincial football federation heads informed him that if they voted for a “particular candidate,” they would receive a good reward.
He said, “I’ll just mention one example. The head of Yazd’s football federation told me that someone approached him the night before the elections, saying, ‘Your province has 4 votes, and I’ll buy each vote for 300 million tomans. That’s 1.2 billion tomans for 4 votes.’”
Tabnak news website, one day later, on March 8, without directly naming Mehdi Taj, the Football Federation president, referred to the bribe-giver in their headline: “Billion-toman coronation through bribery and collusion.”
The news website explained why Rasoul Khatibi, CEO of Paykan FC, made the revelations: “Due to his closeness to Masoud Pezeshkian’s team and his active presence in his election campaigns, Rasoul Khatibi hoped to lobby his way into the Football Federation’s board.
“However, it seems a more powerful force was behind the scenes, using money and bribes to change the board’s composition beyond any lobbying efforts.”
How Does the Ethics Committee Know the Accusations Are Baseless?
On March 2, media reported on the retrial of Michel Platini, former French football legend and UEFA president, and Sepp Blatter, former FIFA president.
The reason for reconvening the court after 10 years was to examine allegations related to “the payment of 2 million Swiss francs” from FIFA to Michel Platini.
Both the former FIFA president and the former UEFA president are accused of receiving “precious watches” as bribes from political figures or national federation presidents.
While the corruption case against these two senior world football executives continues, the Football Federation and its Ethics Committee’s response to allegations of bribery by an electoral candidate has been threats and summons.
The Ethics Committee of the Football Federation, as the body responsible for monitoring financial and ethical corruption in Iranian football and the FIFA-approved judicial entity for addressing such violations, announced on March 8 that it had summoned Farshad Tafakkori, head of Yazd province’s football federation.
In its statement, the Ethics Committee claimed that such allegations, even if accompanied by sufficient evidence and documentation, should be pursued quietly through the federation’s judicial and ethical bodies, not among football managers or the media.
The Ethics Committee said, “Naturally, if something is proven, it will be addressed firmly according to regulations.”
What raises questions for some independent domestic media is why this committee has given a definitive opinion on the “baselessness of claims” before hearing from club managers and assembly members, and why managers who have exposed the “300 million toman vote buying” or gifting of precious Swiss watches are being threatened with legal cases.
Tabnak wrote that filing legal cases against club managers or electoral assembly members by the Football Federation in court directly contradicts FIFA’s laws and statutes.
FIFA explicitly states in its statutes that if judicial and government agencies interfere in federation and club matters, FIFA can decide to suspend that country’s football federation.
How Profitable Is Football Presidency for Taj?
Mehdi Taj has repeatedly claimed that he receives no income from the Football Federation and has never received a salary as the federation president.
So why would he, the only serious candidate among the nominees who managed to defeat his advisor, Amir Abedini, by more than 60 votes, be willing to spend 300 million tomans for each vote?
According to documents from the Asian Football Confederation and a report published by Goal newspaper in June 2023, Mehdi Taj, as vice president of the Asian Football Confederation, receives an annual salary of $200,000.
In other words, Mehdi Taj’s income just from his position as AFC vice president is much higher than the money he allegedly distributed to members of the Football Federation’s electoral assembly.
On the other hand, Mehdi Taj and some board members of the Football Federation have hidden incomes within the federation.
The country’s General Inspection Organization, in a 10-page report in February, claimed that senior managers of the Football Federation and the League Organization registered a private company called “Iran Premier Football League Organization Institute” and transferred a significant portion of the federation’s domestic income to this company’s account.
In recent months, fines of several hundred million tomans and even billion-toman penalties imposed by the Football Federation’s Disciplinary Committee on clubs, players, and coaches have made headlines.
According to the Inspection Organization’s report, the shares and assets of the private League Organization Institute have belonged to its founding board members - Mehdi Taj, Mehdi Mohammad Nabi, and General Azizollah Mohammadi - since its establishment.
Apart from media outlets close to Mehdi Taj, news agencies or media that have raised the issue of bribery in the