Navratilova, the human story, and human rights

Dear Colleagues,

When I lived in Prague I traveled a lot for RFE/RL and used to see retired tennis star Martina Navratilova at the airport. I never had the courage to ask for an autograph.

Navratilova’s rivalry with Chris Evert was legendary. At the height of her game Navratilova was so dominant that commentator Bud Collins once remarked that sports really needed to create a higher league for the tennis giant. Navratilova prevailed against Evert 43–37 in total matches, 14–8 in Grand Slams, and 10–4 in Grand Slam finals.

Iran had Navratilova in the news this week. She was one of 22 Olympic medalists, coaches, and renowned international athletes that signed a letter calling for a halt to the execution of a 30-year-old boxer in Iran. Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani was arrested in 2019 for taking part in nationwide, pro-democracy protests.

It was no surprise to see Navratilova’s name on the November 9 letter. She has a long record opposing dictatorship and fighting for human rights.

Navratilova received political asylum in the United States in 1975 when, at age 18, she defected from Soviet satellite Czechoslovakia. So Navratilova: “Whenever people go into politics and try to say that communism was a good thing, I say ‘Go ahead and live in a communist country then, if you think it’s so great!’”

The Communists specialized in secret police networks with armies of informers. The Iranian regime uses the death penalty to intimidate citizens and suppress dissent.

In 2023, authorities executed at least 853 people – up forty-eight percent from the previous year. There were 972 executions last year, the highest number since 2015. Hanging is the preferred method. This year so far more than 800 people have been put to death.

Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani is held in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad in northeast Iran, where he’s tortured and kept in solitary confinement.

The letter Navratilova signed earlier this week noted Iran’s grim history of executing athletes for their beliefs, including the captain of the national football team Habib Khabiri, captain of the national women’s volleyball team Forouzan Abdi, and champion wrestler Navid Afkari.

MBN Iran

Keep drawing attention to Andres’s newsletter, Iran Briefing.  What happens in Iran tragically seldom stays in Iran.

There are new indications Tehran is ramping up missile production in preparation for a next war with Israel. Parliamentary elections took place in Iraq on Tuesday amidst U.S. pressure on Iraq’s government to roll back Iranian influence. During his Washington visit this week, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa insisted that his government has expelled Iranian and Hezbollah forces from Syria.

Inside Iran, things are tense again. A 20-year-old named Ahmad Baledi died on Tuesday. He had set himself ablaze in a park in Ahvaz in Iran’s oil-rich Khuzestan province. Baledi’s kiosk — the only source of income for his family — had just been shut down by local officials. In the past, protests have hit the city and wider Khuzestan province. The area is also home to ethnic Arabs who face discrimination.

Andres reports as well this week on a severe nationwide water shortage. It’s a worsening crisis that may well lead to a next test for Iran’s rulers. Water rationing has already been implemented in the capital with leadership now warning that partial evacuation of Tehran may soon be required. Read Andres’s take on how this plays out.

Iran Briefing comes out every Thursday. Please encourage friends to subscribe, with Arabic here.

Window on Washington

Perhaps like never before, Washington is shaping outcomes in the Middle East. Think of the recent ceasefire in Gaza struck by President Trump. Think of  American rapprochement with the Gulf. Think of this week’s historic Washington visit of Syrian President al-Sharaa.

Spread the word about our new Washington newsletter, The Agenda. It’s out every Tuesday, before dawn in Washington, in the early afternoon in the Middle East — in Arabic (read here), complemented by an English language edition.

Shedding light on America’s story is a key part of our mission. Joe, Aya, Ezat, and Cheyn are on the case. They explain American thinking and preview impending decisions. They’ll be connecting the conversation in Washington with what’s happening in the key capitals across the Arab world.

Together with colleagues based in the region, The Agenda will take audiences behind the scenes, providing the kind of in-depth coverage and straight reporting Arab audiences can’t find elsewhere. Share what you think at mbnagenda@mbn-news.com. Invite friends and the MBN curious to subscribe here.

We don’t rest on laurels. Otherwise at present? Sukina Ali reports for us on how the Gulf is pressing ahead on digital finance. Egyptian-American novelist Ezzedine C. Fishere thinks Hamas disarmament will prove more difficult than some think. Our Ibrahim Essa worries that Islamic extremists are winning the argument over the decadence of the West.

MBN has a vision and exciting strategy. We’ll share our latest and solicit advice from members of the MBN board tomorrow.

We simply refuse to miss a single opportunity to serve audiences, while showing vibrancy and value to our funder, the U.S. Congress and hard working American taxpayer.

*****

The government shutdown has ended. We’re engaging USAGM about fall funding and a new grant agreement. Our previous agreement expired September 30 with the end of the last fiscal year. Stable 2026 funding will allow us to plan and operate again properly. We’re engaged and making the case every day to Congress and the Administration.

What you’ve done under such difficult circumstances, dear colleagues, is truly remarkable. Let’s keep pushing forward. MBN will become the most important platform for voices from and about America and the Middle East.

To discuss details, we’ll hold a town hall meeting on budget and the way ahead next Thursday, November 20, at 1 pm. We’ll convene a town hall session on editorial strategy the next day — next Friday, November 21, at 11 am.

Sports, the Human Story, and Human Rights

 It’s 50 years since Martina Navratilova defected to the United States. Navratilova had just appeared in the US Open in 1975, where she lost to Chris Evert in the semifinal in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-4.  The next day, Navratilova announced that she was defecting from Communist Czechoslovakia.

There had been plenty of cloak and dagger the two weeks before, with clandestine FBI meetings in Navratilova’s Manhattan Hotel. The KGB hunted defectors with orders to kidnap or eliminate them. An immigration agent in New York asked Navratilova at one point about her views of Communism. “That was really insulting,” she’d later recall.

The Czech Communist regime prevented Navratilova’s parents from traveling to see their daughter in the U.S. Her father urged Martina never to return to Czechoslovakia, no matter what promises the government made.

Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert’s on court rivalry became famous and fierce. From 1973 to 1988, the two totaled 80 matches against one another. Evert was brilliant from the backcourt. Navratilova attacked relentlessly. It was “Evert the so-called Ice Maiden versus the shrieking, head-clutching Navratilova,” as one writer put it. If you want a sense of things, watch this.

Off court, the two became friends. Their friendship deepened when both women fell ill in 2022. Evert was diagnosed with ovarian cancer; Navratilova, with breast and throat cancer. The two were suddenly “fighting for each other instead of against each other,” said Navratilova.

Navratilova and Evert have spoken out together against human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia. Navratilova has been a passionate free speech advocate around the globe, and a sharp critic of China’s human rights record.

In 2022, Navratilova voiced support for tennis player Peng Shuai, condemning the Australian Open’s ban on “Where is Peng Shuai?” t-shirts. She called the ban a “pathetic” capitulation to Chinese pressure. Peng had disappeared in November 2021 in what was suspected to be a Communist Party-orchestrated forced disappearance.

Navratilova has been critical at times about U.S. politics and policy. She certainly relishes healthy debate and the right to dissent. Perhaps that’s why she’s always been so in love with the American idea. Navratilova was so moved when a reporter once began a question with “As a fellow American …” that she interrupted him, saying “thank you, thank you for calling me that.”

My best, Jeff