Sardar Pashaei is a Kurdish human rights activist, former world wrestling champion, and President of Hiwa, a U.S.-based organization advocating for a democratic and secular Iran.
A former national team coach, he was banned from international competition due to his Kurdish background and political views, and later forced to flee Iran. His activism has come at a personal cost, with members of his family arrested and tortured by Iranian authorities.
Today, he leads international advocacy efforts focused on human rights, ethnic and minority rights, and political repression in Iran. His work also highlights how the Islamic Republic uses sport as a tool of control and propaganda.
He works with policymakers, media, and civil society to advance accountability and support a democratic future for Iran. His advocacy has been featured by major outlets including BBC, CNN, and Fox News.
Hi, my name is Sardar and I’m a Kurdish world wrestling champion who was banned from competing in the Olympic Games because of my political background. My dad was a prisoner. And I was a head coach for the wrestling national team. My team got second place in the world, but I was not allowed to travel with the team because of my political background.
So, I decided to leave the country and come to the United States, and now I’m a U.S.-proud citizen. I am a president of Hiwa, the Kurdish-led organization that’s promoting human rights and raising awareness about the situation in Kurdistan, Baluchistan, ethnic minorities, religious minorities, and generally Iran.
So, as an Iranian athlete, you’re not allowed to compete against Israel. You learn the lesson of hate, not friendship, and you can see that in all of the international competition. I remember when I was in Egypt preparing for the next match, our head coach forced all of us outside of the hall into a burning heat. We sat there for 15 minutes and had no idea why we were there. And finally, we found out that an Israeli athlete got a gold medal, and we were not allowed to hear their national anthem.
This is how they want to plant this seed of hate within you: portray athletes from America and from Israel as the enemy for you and justify all the other things that they want to do. But it never worked, because we never learned to hate. We never learned to see an American or Israeli athlete as our enemies. We just wanted to be friends.
As an athlete, I think we have a responsibility: while those young protesters are on the street facing bullets, guns, and prison, we cannot be silenced. It doesn’t matter where we live – in Iran or outside of the country – we should do our part for supporting this movement. If we want to have a democracy – building a democratic constitution – we all need to get together.
So, I believe that all of the athletes should use their platform, their fame, and all of the opportunities they have to echo the voice of these voiceless people, especially now that the internet is shut down in the country. We should reach out to international communities to tell these people that they deserve better, and the backward morals do not represent the younger, educated generation. They want to change their future and shape their destiny.
The dictators cannot tolerate your freedom, even if you’re thousands of miles away. Because of my activity, they arrested members of my family, including my brother and my sister. They tortured them to silence me. They have done that with many other activists, but I think we have no other choice but to resist them. Kurdish people, we are trying to do whatever we can for our people.
