FIFA's Efforts to Prevent Executions of Convicts in Iranian Stadiums

According to a report from a French website, the Secretary General of FIFA announced in response to a protest from a French human rights organization that it intends to prevent the execution of convicts in Iranian stadiums. On Thursday, January 13, the ISNA news agency reported that the French site SOfoot, which covers football news, stated that a French human rights organization named 'ECPM' protested against the execution of convicts in Iranian stadiums and requested FIFA to exclude Iran from international competitions. According to the report, Raphael Chenol Hazan, the director of this organization, stated regarding this letter: 'FIFA cannot say it is indifferent to this behavior. If I were a player, I would not play in a place where a human has been executed.' The website published an image of the response from Fatma Samoura, FIFA's Secretary General, which condemned the execution of convicts in Iranian stadiums. The Secretary General of FIFA announced that she intends to negotiate with the Iranian Football Federation to prevent such actions. Fatma Samoura stated that Article 3 of FIFA's statutes allows this international federation to act in this regard. According to Article 3 of FIFA's statutes, this organization is committed to respecting recognized international human rights and striving to protect them. The report refers to the execution of a convict in the city of Neyriz in Fars province on September 22, 2016. According to Iranian media reports, on this day, a person named 'Saeed - T' who committed murder and stole gold from a six-year-old girl in one of the villages of Neyriz and had 'abused' the girl before the murder, was executed in the stadium of this city. This execution took place while Ali Kaffashian, the former president of the Football Federation, had reported in 2013 that FIFA had warned Iran about holding execution ceremonies in football stadiums and requested that such incidents be prevented. On January 17, 2013, a convict was hanged on the football field of Sabzevar city for 'rape,' and images of the execution received widespread media coverage. Previously, international organizations have repeatedly criticized the high rate of executions in Iran. Meanwhile, on November 16 of this year, the UN General Assembly's Human Rights Committee passed a resolution with 85 votes in favor, expressing serious concern over severe human rights violations, including the high rate of executions in Iran. Reports indicate that Iran has the second-highest execution rate in the world after China. The imposition of the death penalty for drug traffickers is cited as one of the reasons for the high execution rate in Iran, and proposals to replace the death penalty with life imprisonment for unarmed traffickers are currently under review in the Iranian parliament.