Judge Upholds FIFA Ban on Pre-Revolutionary Iranian Flag at World Cup Stadiums
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge rejected a lawsuit seeking to allow the Lion and Sun flag inside venues hours before Iran's opening match. The ruling applies to games in Los Angeles and Seattle.
Usa TodayLos Angeles County Superior Court Judge Curtis A. Kin upheld FIFA's ban on Iran's pre-revolutionary flag at World Cup stadiums hours before Iran's match against New Zealand in Los Angeles. The judge stated: "Free speech is incredibly important, it is sacred, a bedrock of our society, but it is not without limitation, such as private actor, on private property, and as shown by previous cases, regulating in reasonable way.
The Institute for Voice of Liberty and Iranian fan Sam Kermanian filed the lawsuit last week. They argued that the pre-revolutionary flag, which features a lion and the sun in the center rather than the Islamic Republic symbol, constituted protected symbolic and political speech. Los Angeles has the largest Iranian population outside of Iran.
Despite the ruling, several fans outside SoFi Stadium carried the banned flag before the New Zealand match. Iran is scheduled to play Belgium in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 21, and Egypt in Seattle on June 26. The same flag was at issue during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which occurred during the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests.
Kin noted that a stadium is not a public area like a park or a street. The pre-revolutionary flag is associated with the Shah-led regime that was overthrown in 1979 and is viewed by some as a symbol of resistance to Iran's current rulers.
