Ahmad Doniamali at a Crossroads: Action or Impeachment? Pressure on Minister Over Legal Cases, From Taj to Saei

Ahmad Doniamali is facing pressure from some parliament members. He is also dealing with challenges over the annulment of several federations' elections and with the judicial and security cases of some federation heads.

According to Ambassador Arjan's sports reporter, these days are perhaps the most difficult days for Ahmad Dunyamali at the head of Iran's sports structure. A minister who became the sixth Minister of Sports and Youth on August 31, 1403 by obtaining 253 votes from the Islamic Council, who received the highest vote of confidence from the representatives of the Baharestan building among all the former ministers. Now, representatives from the same building have discussed the impeachment of the Minister of Sports and are not satisfied with his performance in the last two years.

Although since the beginning of the 14th government in Iran, the country has been involved in many problems, including targeted assassinations of leaders, two 12-day and 40-day wars, as well as economic problems following sanctions and economic blockade, but the story of sports is always different from anything else. The tremendous influence of sports on society and even politics is undeniable, and problems like this have less impact on sports. Therefore, the critics of Ahmed Dunyamali may be looking for his impeachment because the country's sports environment is facing internal and legal problems.

In the last two years, there have been various issues and problems in the structure of Iranian sports; From infrastructural issues and the renovation of Azadi Stadium to issues including the elections of some federations, which the Ministry of Sports and Youth has obviously influenced. On the other hand, the "four election cancellations and the silence of the Ministry of Sports" means that the legal procedure regarding the holding of some elections did not proceed properly, and if the situation continues in this way, the sports work of the country will remain on the ground. In the meantime, there are also very important federations that may not face the problem of holding elections, but their performance or their current conditions have caused Ahmed Dunyamali to be under pressure.

The last elections of the Football Federation were held during the tenure of the Ministry of Sports and Youth. March 1403, the result of which was the re-election of Mehdi Taj. While the head of the football federation, in addition to the court cases that led to the issuance of a verdict, he was also under prosecution in a very serious case, which was considered the plaintiff in the case of the General Inspection Organization of the country. The case that has recently been determined due to the receipt of 20 thousand dollar bonuses by the board of directors for advancing to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has led to the issuance of an indictment and Mehdi Taj and several members of the board of directors should be banned from the federation and the order of dismissal from their service should be implemented.

Ambassador Arjan published a report titled "Separation from the service of Mehdi Taj more seriously than ever / Football Federation enters the election process", presented a report about the Football Federation case and pointed out that if the verdict is referred to Ahmed Dunyamali by the judicial system, he should prevent Mehdi Taj from continuing to be the head of the Football Federation. However, shortly after this report, Ambassador Arjan, Adel Ferdosipour also mentioned in his analytical program that the resignation letter from Mehdi Taj and other members of the board of directors is in the portfolio of the Minister of Sports and Youth, but Dunya Mali has not considered it yet so as not to enter into a specific time process. Even now, after a long period of time has passed, it is not clear whether the Minister of Sports paid attention to this letter or not.

In addition to the football issue, the Taekwondo Federation is also facing legal problems and many reports from the regulatory bodies. Before the Taekwondo Federation elections, which were held on May 21, 1405, confidential reports were received by the Ministry of Sports and Youth, which pointed to some administrative and financial violations in this federation. The supervisory bodies wanted the Ministry of Sports and Youth to deal with the violators in this federation, but without anything happening, the Taekwondo Federation elections were held and Hadi Saei took the helm of this federation for another four years. Now there is news that the Administrative Court of Justice annulled the elections of this federation, which seems to be related to this case.

A more detailed report of the Taekwondo Federation has been published in some media and of course cyber space, which shows that the extent of violations in this federation is beyond expectations, and the question has been raised as to why the Minister of Sports and Youth has not or is not taking any action regarding this federation. Ahmed Dunyamali's only reaction to the Taekwondo Federation election annulment vote was a short sentence: "This is a preliminary vote and we have time to protest." We have three weeks to follow up on the matter and it is not a special issue." While some point to the role of Mohammad Sharvin Esbaghian, the Deputy Minister of Sports and Youth, in the promotion of federation elections, he is often present in the meetings of sports federations on behalf of Dunya Mali, but he tries to make everything look normal and eventually the atmosphere goes to the direction where the federation elections are questioned.

Of course, the issue of pressure on the Minister of Sports and Youth is not only related to one or two federations. Various federations are facing problems or legal objections that the parliament, as one of the bodies supervising the implementation of laws and regulations, has questioned Ahmed Dunyamali. Another example was the Bodybuilding Federation; In addition to the recent letter of the World Federation, which suspended the bodybuilding and bodybuilding federation of Iran until the re-determination of the elections and demanded the holding of elections with the process approved by the World Federation, the vote of annulment of the elections of the bodybuilding federation has been issued by the internal institutions.

The Ministry of Sports and Youth prevented the participation of Abdul Mahdi Nasirzadeh in the elections of the Bodybuilding Federation. According to the former head of the Bodybuilding Federation, the Implementation Commission of the Ministry of Sports and Youth did this without any reason. In the report that Ambassador Arjan titled "Nasirzadeh's objection to the bodybuilding federation elections; They slandered and made a case" he published referring to the events of this federation. Of course, the bodybuilding federation has been associated with various issues, including the news that Ambassador Arjan published in December 1403 with the title "Bodybuilding Federation accused of currency smuggling" and referred to some alleged violations in this federation.

Nasirzadeh claims that he was acquitted in the cases brought against him by the government penal system for currency smuggling, but after Nasirzadeh objected to the bodybuilding federation's election process, some sources in the Ministry of Sports and Youth told Ambassador Arjan that the judicial system's decision was issued in this regard and the ministry could not allow Nasirzadeh to participate in the elections due to the issuance of the same decision. However, Nasirzadeh's presence in the executive board of the World Bodybuilding Federation and his close relationship with the Spanish head of this federation has prevented the continuation of the activity of the Iran Bodybuilding and Bodybuilding Federation, and now the Ministry of Sports and Youth, according to the letter received from the World Federation, has to hold elections for this federation again.

In the meantime, some people have pointed to the days when they witnessed similar events in the bodybuilding federation, which happened now, and the world federation of this discipline suspended this federation due to its close relationship with Nasirzadeh, in 1392, in the rowing federation. When Ahmed Dunyamali, the then head of the rowing federation and the current minister of sports and youth, suspended the federation for two years with the actions he took, which is available in the documents and correspondence of the world federation in the same year.

Whatever it is, Ahmed Dunyamali is now under question as the Minister of Sports and Youth, and the representatives of the Islamic Council have proposed his impeachment, referring to the points that were announced earlier, as well as other matters that are more confidential. Dunya-Mali now has two paths ahead, one of which is to fully implement the law against some federations whose violations have been identified, and the Minister of Sports and Youth must prevent the continued activity of their offending presidents, and the other path is to increase the pressure from the Islamic Council on the Minister of Sports and Youth, so that his impeachment for not paying attention to warnings reaches the executive stage.

Purification in Iranian sports and the so-called plowing should take place. Now, either by choice or by force, now the members of parliament have thrown the ball in the field of the Minister of Sports and Youth. Even some representatives, including Mohammad Motamedizadeh, the secretary of the 90th Parliament Commission, informed about the commission's entry into the claim of residency and dual citizenship of the son and son-in-law of Ahmad Dunyamali, the Minister of Sports and Youth, or another member of the parliament, Fethullah Tausli, without referring to Ahmed Dunyamali, shared a user account on LinkedIn with the name "Fatemeh D", which has now been changed to "Fatemeh M", and wrote: "Is the wealth of the world really so valuable?! Why are you changing your profile in the English company?

The MP's reaction with two words "Mal" and "World" was a kind of irony to Ahmed Dunyamali, who is said to have one of his children, Fatima Dunyamali, residing in England. According to the law "prohibiting the employment of dual nationals in sensitive jobs" which includes children, some believe that Ahmed Dunyamali could not hold the Ministry of Sports and Youth; Of course, the Minister of Sports and Youth has been a member of parliament before, and there are some objections to this issue.