FIFA’s ban on pre-revolutionary Iran flags at the World Cup has been upheld after a last-minute hearing in Los Angeles on Monday.
The flag, similar to the country’s official flag but featuring a lion and sun motif in the standard’s centre, was the subject of a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday by the Institute for Voice of Liberty and Sam Kermanian, an Iran fan intending to go to the game.
The flag in question is historically associated with the country’s previous Shah-led regime, which was deposed in 1979.
The case was expedited to be heard on Monday morning — just hours before Iran kick off their tournament against New Zealand at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California — with Judge Curtis A. Kin ruling the ban should be allowed to stand.
He said: “Free speech is incredibly important, it is sacred, a bedrock of our society, but it is not without limitation, such as private actor, on private property, and as shown by previous cases, regulating in reasonable way. I deny the application.”
The Iranian team has been training at the Centro Xoloitzcuintle in Tijuana, Mexico ahead of the World Cup (Harry How/Getty Images)
Judge Kin explained his reasoning. “There may be harm to some 2,500 staff members who have to deal with safety protocols,” he said. “It is a tremendous burden to change a long-standing stadium protocol for a massive event in a period of hours. It is hard to see how FIFA could make a change at one stadium and not the rest.”
He argued a stadium, where a ticket for entry is required, is not public like a park or a street.
Lawyer Shahrokh Mokhtarzadeh, representing Kermanian, pushed back. Mokhtarzadeh said on the basis of the California Supreme Court that a business entity should not be allowed to force a customer to waive freedom of speech rights on condition of attending. He argued the World Cup is a joint venture between FIFA and governments and therefore the stadium is taking on a public forum.
He said he was speaking for 5,000 members of the Institute for Voice of Liberty: “They are ticket holders, with a right to attend game with their own flag. This is being violated. It may be trivial to many, to them it is critical. There is a huge Iranian community in California, many are not going to want to walk in with Islamic Republic flag. They are being denied their exercise of free speech. This is not someone yelling fire in a theatre.”
This led to an exchange where Judge Kin posed: “So you could walk in with a Nazi flag or Confederate flag or Soviet flag or that of the KKK?”
Mokhtarzadeh said those people should also be protected by the right to free speech. He added: “Denial will cause more problems than are lost. (Allowing the lion and sun flag) is a way of preventing problems in the stadium. Right to free speech far outweighs any concern FIFA may have.”
Chris Boehning, acting on behalf of FIFA, argued that, as “the plaintiffs were well aware of this match for many, many months,” the emergency relief was not appropriate. Judge Kin agreed.
FIFA has consistently referred to stadium regulations in relation to what is and isn’t permitted to be brought into venues. The Athletic has approached the governing body for further comment following Monday’s ruling.
FIFA was previously asked by The Athletic whether the pre-revolutionary flag would be permitted and it responded by providing a list of banned items from their stadium code of conduct.
“Any materials, including but not limited to banners, flags, fliers, apparel and other paraphernalia, that are of a political, offensive and/or discriminatory nature, containing wording, symbols or any other attributes aimed at discrimination of any kind against a country, private person or group on account of race, skin colour, ethnicity, national or social origin, gender identity and expression, disability, language, religion, political opinion or any other opinion, birth, wealth or any other status, sexual orientation or on any other grounds,” their list read.
The presumption is that the pre-revolutionary flag has been deemed “political” in nature, and a source inside FIFA with direct knowledge of its position told The Athletic that this is the case.
FIFA did not confirm exactly which regulation it breached and it remains to be seen how the policy is applied in practice by security officials at venues.
Despite pre-revolutionary Iran flags being prohibited, The Athletic witnessed multiple instances of supporters unfurling them during the Qatar vs. Switzerland match at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Saturday.
Iran stay in Los Angeles for their second match of Group G against Belgium on June 21. The team’s third game of the tournament comes against Egypt at Lumen Field in Seattle on June 26.
