The 'Closed' Trial of a Football Coach in Tehran for Allegedly Sexually Abusing 9 Teenagers Will Be Held Soon

The trial regarding the allegations against a football coach at a sports club in eastern Tehran, who was accused of sexually abusing 9 teenage boys in the winter of 2021, will be held 'soon' in a 'closed' court. According to the state-run newspaper Iran on Tuesday, September 7, the trial of this unnamed football coach will take place in the provincial criminal court. The report mentions a father's account of going to the police in late 2021 to file a complaint against the coach of his 12-year-old son. He described the coach as a '40-year-old man' with a 'respectable' appearance and a 'football coaching card,' stating that a few weeks after enrolling his son in the class, he noticed 'strange behavioral changes' in his son, who became 'extremely withdrawn and reclusive' and 'aggressive.' After some time, his son revealed that 'the football coach had harassed him.' Following the initiation of 'police investigations,' the parents of two other teenagers also filed 'similar complaints,' and the coach fled after being informed of the case opening and being summoned to the prosecutor's office but was arrested a few months later in Sari, the capital of Mazandaran province. According to the information in this report, the accused lured '9 boys aged 12-13' to his home under the pretense of 'teaching them more football techniques' and, while 'abusing' them, forced them into 'relations with each other' and 'filmed them' to 'silence them.' The case against this 'married' suspect was sent to Branch 10 of the Criminal Court of Tehran Province, and in the first investigative session, he 'confessed to his crimes.' According to this report, the plaintiffs have requested the 'harshest punishment' for him, and his trial will be 'closed.' This is not the first time that sexual abuse of children and adolescents in sports and educational environments in Iran has been reported. Last winter, following reports of sexual abuse of children by a coach at a football school in Mashhad, the secretary of the Football Association of Razavi Khorasan Province called the publication of the news 'illogical and unethical' and claimed that 'money had been paid' for it to be reported. The provincial prosecutor's office announced the arrest of the offending coach and stated that 'security measures' had been issued for three journalists and one official from the Sports and Youth Administration of Mashhad. Sexual abuse of children and adolescents in Iran had previously made headlines with complaints from the parents of teenage students against Saeed Toosi on charges of 'sexual abuse.' Although this Quran reciter close to the office of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, was sentenced to four years in prison, the judiciary ultimately issued a verdict of acquittal for Saeed Toosi in January 2018 following the intervention of individuals reportedly close to the leader's office. Additionally, last month, reports of sexual corruption involving some government officials of the Islamic Republic made headlines. Payman Behboudi, the whistleblower of the sexual corruption video of the director-general of culture and guidance in Gilan province, told Voice of America that due to the negligence of the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance in dismissing Reza Taqati, he decided to publish parts of the videos he had obtained. The media attention on sexual scandals in the Islamic Republic has been significant, with a former member of parliament stating that the lack of action against Saeed Toosi and Reza Taqati has political reasons. A government official noted that about a quarter of first-grade elementary school children have not yet registered for school.