Paralympic athlete stripped of gold medal for displaying banned flag and performing 'throat-slit' gesture

There has been major controversy at the Paralympic Games after an athlete was stripped of his gold medal for unfurling a banned flag in Paris.

Iranian athlete Sadegh Beit Sayah thought he had claimed gold in the men's F41 javelin final on Saturday before being disqualified from the competition.

Sayah set a new Paralympic record to win his event with a throw of 47.64 meters.

However, he later had the gold medal dramatically taken away from him, moments before the victory ceremony was due to begin.

Metro report that Sayah was given two yellow cards for two separate incidents around the event, resulting in his disqualification.

The first yellow card was issued when Sayah appeared to perform a 'throat-slitting' gesture after breaking the Paralympic record with his second throw.

The 37-year-old then received his second yellow card after he unfurled a black flag with red writing as he celebrated his victory.

According to the Paralympic website, Sayah was disqualified under rule 8.1 of the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) regulations, which state: "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."

His unfurling of the black flag was a violation of rule 1.11 of the IPC Code of Ethics, which states athletes must: "Refrain from using the Paralympic Games and the Paralympic Movement to promote any political agenda, other than the advancement of sport for persons with an impairment and democracy, empowerment, equality, and the protection of human rights."

Iran's Para-Athletics Association launched an immediate appeal to overturn his disqualification but were unsuccessful.

That resulted in Indian athlete Navdeep Singh being promoted to gold, with China's Sun Pengxiang and Iraq's Wildan Nukhailawi taking silver and bronze respectively.

Speaking after his disqualification, Sayah said the flag had no political meaning but was a religious banner to honour of Hazrat Ummul Banin, the wife of Ali ibn Abi Talib - the first Shia imam.

The head of Iran's Para-Athletics Association, Aliasghar Hadizadeh, later defended Sayah's behaviour and said the 'throat-slitting' gesture was commonly performed by athletes after they broke a record.

"When the competition was over and the results were announced, we found out that he had been disqualified, so we immediately went to the authorities and announced our strong protest," Hadizadeh told the Iranian media agency, Tasnim News.

"After our protest, a meeting was held and the videos of the competition were shown. Considering that every athlete has a kind of happiness. Some of Shadi Beit Sayah's behaviour was not approved by the referee, and our athlete was disqualified.

"Usually, when athletes break the record, they pass their hands past their necks as a sign of breaking this record, which took a different interpretation and showed the first yellow card to Beit Sayah.

Asked about the flag, Hadizadeh added: "We always give the Iranian flag to the athlete from above, but Mr. Beit Sayyah took this flag out of his sports backpack because of his devotion to Hazrat Ummul Banin, and he got the second yellow card and his gold medal and record were removed."