Seattle opposes FIFA ban on prerevolution Iranian flag

The city of Seattle will oppose any ban on the Iranian lion-and-sun flag by FIFA at the June 26 match between Iran and Egypt, said the head of the city’s civil legal division, Rebecca Cohen, on Thursday.

The stance could put the city at odds with FIFA, the international soccer governing body of the Men’s World Cup. The organization has said it will prohibit anything deemed political from matches, and The New York Times reported that includes the prerevolution Iranian flag.

Cohen sent a letter Thursday to FIFA saying Seattle “objects to the enforcement of FIFA’s Code of Conduct in any discriminatory manner that violates City law, including a prohibition of the Lion-and-Sun flag or other flags or peaceful displays of political ideology. Mayor (Katie) Wilson and City Attorney (Erika) Evans are aligned on this position.”

As such, the city will not assist FIFA in enforcing its ban on peaceful political demonstrations, Cohen said.

City officials met with FIFA representatives earlier this week “to make clear that Seattle law protects peaceful political expression, and that the City objects to the enforcement of FIFA’s Code of Conduct in any discriminatory manner that violates City law,” said Alan Pyke, spokesperson for Evans.

A spokesperson for Wilson’s office clarified the mayor’s position is “not specific to any political viewpoint or ideology but rather designed to protect all people in the city.”

The lion-and-sun flag was formally used by Iran until the 1979 revolution that toppled the previous administration. It is now an oppositional symbol to the current Islamic regime, which banned its display.

The issue came to Seattle’s attention when Michigan-based lawyer Yasmin Whitmer sent a demand earlier this month to FIFA and cities hosting matches for clarification on its policies surrounding the display of the flag.

“It is not a mere decorative item,” the American Canadian Iranian lawyer wrote in her June 2 letter. “Nor does the fact that the current Iranian government does not use the symbol convert peaceful display of the flag into prohibited advocacy or merchandise under FIFA’s political-items rule.”

FIFA has not gone on record saying it will ban the flag but in a statement pointed to its code of conduct, prohibiting “Any materials, including but not limited to banners, flags, fliers, apparel and other paraphernalia, that are of a political” nature. The New York Times reported that includes the prerevolution flag.

The Institute for Voices of Liberty, a California-based nonprofit that opposes the current Iranian regime, sued FIFA on Thursday over its policies in Los Angeles County Superior Court, asking for “immediate judicial intervention” on an issue related to free speech.

Cohen of the Seattle city attorney’s office weighed in Thursday. “The expression of one’s political ideology is protected by Seattle law,” she wrote, and “prohibits discrimination in places of public accommodation, which includes sports arenas and stadiums.”

Iran’s place in the World Cup has stoked intense political tension, as its war with the United States stretches out.

Some local Iranians who have previously cheered on the team every World Cup are finding it difficult to do it this year. The regime’s killing of thousands of protesters has instead made Mahyar Sajadi, an Eastside soccer coach who moved to Washington in 2012, want to sit this year out. He sees the players as being a tool of the regime.  

“People are not in a good mood to watch the World Cup games,” he said of his local community.

Instead, he and others are planning protests outside of the stadium, where they will wave the lion-and-sun flag.

“We believe that this is the only thing we can do right now,” he said. “We can show the people of other countries that we don’t support the regime of Iran.”