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Iranian Players Threatened, Praised after Refusing to Celebrate Victory at Int'l Tournaments

Members of the Iranian beach soccer team wins the Confederations Cup in Dubai. (EPA)
Members of the Iranian beach soccer team wins the Confederations Cup in Dubai. (EPA)
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Iranian Players Threatened, Praised after Refusing to Celebrate Victory at Int'l Tournaments

Members of the Iranian beach soccer team wins the Confederations Cup in Dubai. (EPA)
Members of the Iranian beach soccer team wins the Confederations Cup in Dubai. (EPA)

Players of the Iranian beach soccer and wrestling teams were on Monday hailed as heroes on social media but risked sanctions at home after an apparent gesture in solidarity with the anti-regime protest movement at an international tournament.

The Iranian team on Sunday won the Emirates Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup in Dubai 2-1 against Brazil thanks to a goal from Saeed Piramoun.

The team did not celebrate when awarded the cup for winning the title, instead standing sternly with their arms crossed.

Rather than celebrating his strike, Piramoun stopped and made a clear scissor-like gesture above his head with his fingers to mimic cutting his hair, according to several videos posted on social media.

Hair cutting, in and outside Iran, has become a symbol of solidarity with the protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the morality police for allegedly flouting Iran’s dress rules.

The beach soccer team had already been under scrutiny after apparently not singing the Iranian national anthem before their semifinal, images showed. That gesture prompted state television to cut the livestream, AFP reported.

Meanwhile, the Iranian Greco-Roman wrestlers won the 2022 Greco-Roman wrestling world cup after beating hosts Azerbaijan in Baku on Sunday. However, they also chose not to celebrate their victory, Asriran news website reported.

Both teams’ decision not to celebrate their victory, as well as Piramoun’s haircut gesture immediately prompted a cascade of memes on social media, where the player was applauded for his courage.

The legend of Iran’s national football team, Ali Daei, posted on his Instagram account pictures of the Iranian beach soccer and Greco-Roman wrestling teams and wrote: “Thank you and greetings to the national heroes in my country.”

Many Iranian websites circulated a photo of Daei's account on their Telegram channels.

“An Iranian national team with honor,” tweeted former Iranian footballer and ex-Bayern Munich star Ali Karimi who has been an impassioned supporter of the protests, posting a video of Piramoun’s gesture.

Making no reference to the controversy, President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday congratulated the beach soccer team for showing “an example of a brilliant and strong Iran on the international arena.

“This game and this win may be forgotten, but this gesture cannot be forgotten. More important than the championship was the honor you showed,” tweeted former Iranian international player Mehrdad Pooladi.

Without naming Piramoun, Iran’s football federation said it would discipline all those deemed to have failed to keep politics out of the field of play.

“Based on FIFA and Iran’s regulations regarding avoiding political behavior in sport, those who have not followed professional and sporting ethics must be treated in accordance with the rules,” it said in a statement.

Government newspaper Iran criticized the Emirati police who it said had taken “no measure” against spectators who, it said, had chanted “anti-Islamic Republic” slogans after the match.

Dubai is home to a major community of Iranian exiles, and in September Iran welcomed back the UAE ambassador after a six-year downgrading of ties.

But the paper said: “If this country (UAE) does not react appropriately, it will have to accept the consequences of this action that is hostile to Iran.”

Sports has become a hugely sensitive arena in the protests, especially ahead of Iran’s participation in this year’s football World Cup in Qatar.

Sports climber Elnaz Rekabi caused a sensation last month when she climbed without a headscarf — obligatory for all Iranian women even while competing abroad — at a competition in South Korea.

Upon her return to Iran, she apologized and said the hijab had fallen off by accident. But activists argued her gesture was deliberate and she had been pressured by the authorities into expressing regret.

Earlier this month, top Tehran football side Esteghlal also refused to celebrate after winning the Iranian Super Cup with its footballer Siavash Yazdani in a post match interview dedicating the victory to “women and those who lost loved ones.”

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French Far-Right Leader Marine Le Pen Is Barred from Seeking Public Office for Embezzlement

President of the parliamentary group of the French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, Marine Le Pen arrives at the Paris courthouse for her trial verdict on suspicion of embezzlement of European public funds, in Paris, on March 31, 2025. (AFP)
President of the parliamentary group of the French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, Marine Le Pen arrives at the Paris courthouse for her trial verdict on suspicion of embezzlement of European public funds, in Paris, on March 31, 2025. (AFP)
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French Far-Right Leader Marine Le Pen Is Barred from Seeking Public Office for Embezzlement

President of the parliamentary group of the French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, Marine Le Pen arrives at the Paris courthouse for her trial verdict on suspicion of embezzlement of European public funds, in Paris, on March 31, 2025. (AFP)
President of the parliamentary group of the French far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party, Marine Le Pen arrives at the Paris courthouse for her trial verdict on suspicion of embezzlement of European public funds, in Paris, on March 31, 2025. (AFP)

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen strode out of a French court as the chief judge on Monday barred her from seeking public office after she was found guilty of embezzling EU funds.

The judge hasn’t yet said how long Le Pen will be ineligible for running for public office — a decision that could derail the far-right leader's career and infuriate her millions of supporters.

Le Pen didn’t wait around to find out. In a moment of high drama, the politician picked up her bag, slung it over her arm and strode briskly out of the courtroom, her heels click-click-clicking on the hardwood floor, leaving disbelief in her wake.

The chief judge looked up at Le Pen but carried on reading out the sentence.

Le Pen left the high-rise Paris courthouse without stopping to speak to reporters and climbed into a car that drove her away.

Earlier Monday, from the front row of the court, Le Pen showed no immediate reaction when the judge declared her guilty. But she grew more agitated as the proceedings continued. She repeatedly nodded her head in disagreement as the judge went into greater detail with the verdict, saying Le Pen’s party had illegally used European Parliament money for its own benefit. “Incredible,” she whispered at one point.

The judge also handed down guilty verdicts to eight other current or former members of her party who, like her, previously served as European Parliament lawmakers.

Le Pen and her co-defendants face up to 10 years in prison. They can appeal, which would lead to another trial.

‘A political death’ scenario  

The sentence, even if she appeals, could prevent her from running for president in 2027. She has described such scenario as a “political death.”

The verdict was shaping up as a resounding defeat for Le Pen and her party. As well as finding her and eight other former European lawmakers guilty of embezzling public funds, the court also convicted 12 other people who served as parliamentary aides for Le Pen and what is now the National Rally party, formerly the National Front.

The judge said Le Pen had been at the heart of “a system” that her party used to siphon off EU parliament money. The judge said Le Pen and other co-defendants didn't enrich themselves personally. But the ruling described the embezzlement as “a democratic bypass" that deceived the parliament and voters.

Le Pen and 24 other officials from the National Rally were accused of having used money intended for EU parliamentary aides to pay staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016, in violation of the 27-nation bloc’s regulations. Le Pen and her co-defendants denied wrongdoing.

Le Pen has enjoyed growing support  

Le Pen, 56, was runner-up to President Emmanuel Macron in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections, and her party’s electoral support has grown in recent years.

During the nine-week trial that took place in late 2024, she argued that ineligibility “would have the effect of depriving me of being a presidential candidate" and disenfranchise her supporters.

“There are 11 million people who voted for the movement I represent. So tomorrow, potentially, millions and millions of French people would see themselves deprived of their candidate in the election,” she told the panel of three judges.

If Le Pen cannot run in 2027, her seeming natural successor would be Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s 29-year-old protégé who succeeded her at the helm of the party in 2021.

Le Pen denied accusations she was at the head of the system meant to siphon off EU parliament money to benefit her party, which she led from 2011 to 2021. She argued instead that it was acceptable to adapt the work of the aides paid by the European Parliament to the needs of the lawmakers, including some political work related to the party.

Hearings showed that some EU money was used to pay for Le Pen’s bodyguard — who was once her father's bodyguard — as well as her personal assistant.

Prosecutors requested a two-year prison sentence and a five-year period of ineligibility for Le Pen.

Le Pen said she felt they were “only interested” in preventing her from running for president.