A photo of Iranian paralympian Sadegh Beit Sayah holding a religious flag is viral with a false claim that he displayed the official flag of the Islamic State's (ISIS), following his win at the Paralympics in Paris, France.
BOOM found that the flag waved by Sayah was dedicated to the religious figure Umm al-Banin, who was a wife of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Rashidun caliph and the first Shia Imam.
The waving of the flag by Sayah led to his disqualification, paving the way for Indian athlete Navadep Singh to take home the gold medal in the javelin throw F41 class at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Sayah was disqualified for breaching the code of conduct after he had initially won gold.
Posts falsely claim ISIS flag
Several social media users including fake news peddler Mr Sinha (@MrSinha_) posted the viral photo with the caption, "He's Iranian Athlete Beit Sayah Sadegh. After winning the gold in #Paralympics2024, he openly displayed the ISIS flag Disqualified...Imagine displaying the ISIS flag openly and getting away with a mere disqualification. He should have been treated like a terr0rist.)
BOOM has previously debunked communal misinformation posted on X by @MrSinha_
Click here to view, and here for an archive.
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the flag waved by Iranian Paralympian Sadegh Beit Sayah is a religious flag honoring Umm al-Banin, a revered figure in Shia Islam.
The red and black flag in the viral photo does not resemble the terrorist outfit, ISIS's flag
This was also confirmed by Iranian fact-checking organisation FactNameh and fact checkers from the Arab Fact Checking Network to BOOM, that the flag is in honour of Umm al-Banin.
Does ISIS's flag match with the flag held by Sayah?
We compared the flag in the viral photo to several publicly available images of the ISIS flag and found no similarities.
The ISIS flag can be seen below, whereas the flag raised by Sayah has different letters and inscription on it. (This can be seen here)
Media reports on Sayah's disqualification
According to news reports about the incident, post his 'victory' Sayah unfurled a flag that he later claimed was that of Umm al-Banin, wife of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first Shia Imam (Click here to view)
Sayah was disqualified as the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) termed his flag waving, "unsporting or improper conduct”.
Reports further added that Sayah was already penalised with a yellow card earlier in the competition for a technical violation, and then subsequently disqualified for a second offence. This disqualification was in accordance with rule 8.1 of the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) regulations, which stated:
"The IPC Code of Ethics and the World Para Athletics Code of Conduct (both available on the IPC website) apply to all participants in World Para Athletics Recognised Competitions. Any breach of these Regulations will be addressed as per the procedures outlined in the World Para Athletics Code of Conduct.”
Fox Sports reported that he was handed his first yellow card when his celebratory gesture of running a finger across his neck, was interpreted as unsportsmanlike by the referee. The unfurling of the flag was the cause for the second yellow card.
BBC News quoted Ali Asghar Hadizadeh, head of Iran's national track and field team at the Paris Paralympics, as, "Because of his love and devotion to Ms. M. Al-Banin, Beitsyah suddenly took the flag out of the sports bag and showed the flag, and thus received the second yellow card and was eliminated from the tournament."
Flag in viral photo
BOOM then reached out to Farhad Souzanchi, editor at the Iranian fact-checking organization FactNameh, who denied the viral claim of it being as ISIS flag. He further confirmed that the flag held by Sayah was a flag in the name of the religious figure - Umm al-Banin.
"No it's definitely not an ISIS flag, The flag is the name of a religious figure: Umm al-Banin," Souzanchi told BOOM. Souzanchi also stated that the words in red on the flag when translated to English from Persian are - Ya Umm al-Banin.
We also found similar religious flags with black background and red text (here), which establishes that the flag is a religious flag related to Umm al-Banin, a revered figure in Shia Islam, and the the wife of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Rashidun caliph and the first Shia Imam.
