türkçe links to original Turkish article
(Milliyet Newspaper, 20 September 2018)
Like many others, Iranian-Swedish footballer Mahan Baghdadi (23)
pursued his dream but instead of a fairy tale, it has turned into a
nightmare. Baghdadi came to Sweden at age 4 and later played
for the Taby, Vasalund and Eskils clubs' youth teams. For his first
professional agreement he chose his favorite Iranian team but he was
unaware of the problems he would later encounter.
One day Baghdadi saw an announcement about the Iranian national
U19 (under 19) football team, which said that Iranians abroad could
play on the team. After sending in his biography and a video,
Baghdadi was quickly accepted onto the team. At the Granatkin Cup
in Russia, he played for a few minutes against Belarus. Against
Finland he scored a goal. Subsequently, Baghdadi went on an Iranian
TV show and gained fame.
Baghdadi received many offers to play for Iranian teams but he chose
his favorite, Estaghal. However, he was taken into custody in Tehran
for having a bottle of alcohol on the street and sentenced to 6 months
in jail. The sentence was converted to a fine to keep it quiet. Next,
though, Baghdadi received notice that he had to serve 2 years in the
Iranian military, in spite of his Swedish passport. He played on the
militay football team but was not spared any duties, like watchtower
shifts. With regard to his military service, Baghdadi said "When I
came to Iran they promised I wouldn't have to put on a military
uniform but then they said that I could not be excused from it. The
first two weeks were a nightmare, I cried every night."
Soldier-footballer
Majid Hosseini, Baghdadi's teammate on the U19 national team and
currently playing for Trabzonspor, lamented that this past summer
at the World Cup, while he was on the field against Christiano
Renaldo in the Iran-Portugal match, Baghdadi was carrying a rifle
in the desert in 45-degree heat.
Six months before the end of his military service, Baghdadi decided
to escape by jumping a fence and getting away in a taxi. He paid a
human trafficker 2,000 Euros to leave Iran and try to return to
Sweden.
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