Fact Check: Iranian athlete’s disqualification from 2024 Paris Paralympics falsely linked to ISIS flag
The flag had red Arabic writing which is same flag of 'Ya Umm al-Banin'.
By Sibahathulla Sakib Published on 12 Sep 2024 7:49 PM GMT
Claim: Iranian Athlete Beit Sayah Sadegh was disqualified from the 2024 Paris Paralympics for displaying the ISIS flag.
Fact: The claim is false. Beit Sayah Sadegh was disqualified for displaying the ‘Ya Umm al-Banin’ flag, not the ISIS flag.
Hyderabad: In a dramatic turn of events, Indian athlete Navadep Singh was awarded the gold medal for the Javelin throw in the Paris Paralympics 2024 after Iranian athlete Sadegh Beit Sayah was disqualified for violating the code of conduct.
An image of the event went viral, claiming that Sadegh was disqualified for waving the ISIS flag.
An X user posted an image of Beit Sayah Sadegh with the caption, “Iranian Athlete Beit Sayah Sadegh disqualified from Para Olympics 2024 for displaying the ISIS flag. (sic)” (Archive)
An image purportedly shows Beit Sayah Sadegh carrying a flag with Arabic text written in red.
Similar posts can be seen here and here. (Archive), (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false.
We carried out a keyword search, which led us to a report from Fox Sports titled ‘Iranian athlete stripped of Paralympics gold medal over banned flag,’ dated September 9, 2024.
According to this report, Sadegh Beit Sayah received two yellow cards. The first one was in the middle of the event for the finger-across-the-neck celebration, and the second one was for waving a black flag with red writing on it. The flag refers to Hazrat Umm al-Banin. This second yellow card led to the disqualification of Sadegh Beit Sayah.
With these cues, we conducted a keyword search that led us to a report from Sports Now titled, ‘The ‘Cut-Throat’ Action And The ‘Flag’ That Led To Disqualification Of Iran’s Sadegh Beit Sayah | Explained’
We also found an article on ESPN titled ‘Paris Paralympics 2024: Why Navdeep's silver medal was upgraded to gold after Iran's Sajdegh Sayah Beit was disqualified,’ dated September 8, 2024, authored by Sunaadh Sagar.
According to the report, the first yellow card was awarded for a technical offence and the second yellow card was awarded for an offence under 8.1 of the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) regulations.
We also found similar reports from Sport Bible and news.com.au.
Further, a keyword search led us to the official website of Paralympics where we found the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) regulations.
8.1 of the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) regulations states that “The IPC Code of Ethics and the World Para Athletics Code of Conduct (both located on the IPC website) shall apply to all participants of World Para Athletics Recognised Competitions. Any breach of these Regulations shall be determined in accordance with the procedures outlined in the World Para Athletics Code of Conduct.”
Further, a keyword search for the Hazrat Umm al-Banin flag led us to the India Shafaqna website titled, ‘Najaf Ashraf: Imam Ali’s (AS) holy shrine covered in black on the death anniversary of Lady Ummul-Banin (SA) [photos]’ dated January 8, 2023.
According to this report, the shrine of Imam Ali was covered in black on the death anniversary of Lady Umm al-Banin. We also found a flag of Hazrat Umm al-Banin on the website.
A further search of relevant keywords led us to a website, Duas. As per the website, Ummul Baneen, also known as Bibi Fatima Binte Hazam, is the wife of Imam Ali. She is a very respected figure in the history of Shia Islam, particularly for her love for Imaam Hussain.
We also found the flag of Hazrat Umm al-Banin on the website.
We found an image of Beit Sadegh with same flag after the match. We compared the image with the flag Umm al-Banin and found that the Arabic text is same - 'Ya Umm al-Banin' which means 'mother of the sons'. Here is the comparison image.
Additionally, we spoke to a scholar well-versed in Arabic. He confirmed that the text in both images reads the same.
We conducted a search of relevant keywords, which resulted in an article published in the Time titled ‘What the ISIS Flag Says About the Militant Group’, published on September 9, 2014, authored by Ilene Prusher.
According to the article, the flag is black with the words La ‘ilaha ‘illa-Allah (“There is no God but God”) on the top in white colour, and in the white circle, it’s written “God Messenger Mohammed.” in Arabic.
We also compared the flag of Hazrat Umm al-Banin with the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).
Here is the comparison image.
Hence, the claim that Iranian athlete Beit Sayah Sadegh was disqualified from the 2024 Paralympics for displaying the ISIS flag is false. His disqualification stemmed from displaying a religious flag related to Hazrat Umm al-Banin.
