by his refusal". Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, the speaker of Iran's parliament, congratulated Miresmaeili, calling his refusal to compete a "brave decision," and saying that "Your disqualification because of supporting Palestine would promote your position in the heart of Muslims." Vaks said "I don't think they (Iran) have the right not to acknowledge us. Israel is a democracy, and Iran isn't. But sport is linked to politics... Maybe the next Olympics will be better." On August 18, 2004, the International Judo Federation (IJF), which had set up a commission to investigate whether Miresmaeili deliberately missed weight so he would not have to face Vaks, concluded he had no intention to avoid competing against an Israeli. After a hearing which included the president of Iran's judo federation, the commission concluded that Miresmaeili said he had no pre-planned intentions for not competing and that "he made no statement of any sort to any press," according to an IJF statement. The only issue that remained was that Miresmaeili was overweight on the weigh-in day, the IJF said, and as it has no rule for penalizing overweight athletes, it decided not to take any action against him. On September 8, 2004, Iran's official press agency announced the government had given Miresmaili $125,000, the same amount awarded to Iran's two Athens gold medalists. Denial of entry to election of Iran's Judo Federation In the summer of 2009, prior to the controversial Iranian presidential elections, Miresmaeili chose to support the candidacy of Mohsen Rezaee, one of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's rivals. Rezaei appointed Miresmaeili as his campaign chief for Sports Committee. After being appointed, during a press conference, Miresmaeili stated that if Rezaee were elected as president, there would be no more place for Iranian sports officials who have been appointed for political purposes, as opposed to their knowledge and capabilities. His backing of Rezaee and his remarks did not sit well with the conservative backers of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the Iranian Sports Federation and elsewhere. They also drew immediate and harsh condemnation from the former Chief of Iran's Sports Federation, Mohammed Aliabadi. Since then, the effort to punish and sideline Miresmaeili went as far as denying him entry to an election event of Iran's Judo Federation held on Jan 2, 2009. Miresmaeili tried very hard to gain entry into the event, and was denied entry by the security guards. This angered Miresmaeili to the point where he called a