NCRI - Ms. Mina Alizadeh, a member of the Women's National Dragon Boat racing team of Iran who was taking part in the World Championship in Prague, fled the regime’s training camp. The team returned to Iran without her.

Agents from the Regimes Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), through its embassy in Czech Republic and Germany tried to locate and return Mina Alizadeh to Iran. She has apparently sought asylum in Germany.

Iranian athletes abandoning the regime’s training camps during overseas trips since mullahs came to power in Iran has been an ongoing situation.

Aftab Daily on November 14, 2005, issue reported: The number of the Iranian athletes who have fled training camps during overseas trips reach 20.

Three national champions in gymnastics abandoned the training camp in Spain in 2007 seeking asylum in that country. In the same year a member of the National Rowing team sought asylum in Germany and a female member of the Iranian National Karate team sought asylum in Sweden. Three cycling champions during their trip to Spain refused to go back to Iran.

Iranian athletes escape training camps during overseas trips is happening while each one of them has to leave a 20 million Tomans (equivalent to about 20,000 USD) deposit as a guarantee for their return to the country in order to be permitted to join the team that is leaving the country.

To control the athletes and to prevent their escape, the MOIS has established an organ called “Protection” in the “National Physical Education Organization.”

Speaking about the escape of athletes, Farahani who is in charge of this organ said “Protection unit in the National Physical Education Organization is responsible for the overall protection of the athletes and when they become suspicious about the athletes they make an approach to them but they have no means of making arrests. Our forces do their routine checks, but the atmosphere during the tournaments is not a closed one and athletes cannot be completely restricted.

Sports Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, in solidarity with people’s uprising against the mullahs’ dictatorship in Iran, had earlier called on all athletes to leave the regime’s training camps in protest to suppression, arrests and killing of the Iranian people.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
September 2, 2009