Former FIFA head Blatter says Iran should be barred from World Cup

 Former President of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, has said that the Islamic Republic of Iran should be barred from the Qatar World Cup amid widespread protests in Iran sparked by the death of a 22-year-old woman in the custody of the country’s morality police. 

The Blick tabloid reported that Blatter had demanded harsh consequences for Iran. He reportedly said, “Iran should be excluded from the World Cup.” The Swiss paper cited Blatter as saying it was incomprehensible that FIFA's current head Gianni Infantino had not taken a clear position on the current situation in Iran. Blatter said that he would have removed the Islamic Republic from competition had he still been in charge.

In September, the Women’s rights group Open Stadiums urged FIFA to expel the Islamic Republic from the World Cup. Open Stadiums also sent a letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino. In the letter, the Women’s rights organization called the Iranian FA a direct threat to the security of female fans in Iran. Later on, the group demanded that Iran should be thrown out of the upcoming FIFA World Cup. The group reportedly wrote in the letter, “Why would FIFA give Iran and its representatives a global stage? Where are the principles of FIFA in this regard?”

The woman, identified as Mahsa Amini, was detained by Iran’s morality police in Tehran on September 13 for allegedly not wearing her Hijab (headscarf) correctly. Amini was forced into the Iranian morality police van by the morality police and taken to a station on Vezarat Street. According to human rights activists, Amini was assaulted in the police van while being driven to a detention center for a “re-education lesson” on Hijab. She was pronounced dead on September 16 at a hospital in Tehran. After Amini’s funeral, protests erupted across the country. Many people demanded justice for Amini.