In August 2019, he moved to Europe with a two-year visa from Germany, saying he was afraid to return to Iran after exposing and criticizing its pressure on him to deliberately lose in the World Championships.

[3] Iranian authorities, the Iranian Sports Minister and the presidents of the Iran Judo Federation and the Iran Olympic Committee, ordered Mollaei to intentionally lose in the semi-final at the Tokyo 2019 World Championships, so as to avoid a potential match in the finals against Israeli 2019 world champion Sagi Muki.

[12][13] In reaction, saying he was afraid to return to Iran after exposing and criticizing its pressure on him to deliberately lose in the World Championships to avoid a potential bout against Muki, in August 2019 he moved to Europe with a two-year visa from Germany.

"[19] Mollaei also posted a photo of them standing together, and wrote: "This is true friendship and a win for sports and judo over politics.

"[19] On 16 November 2019, he received the Crans Montana Forum gold medal from Ambassador Jean-Paul Carteron for the difficult decision he took in Japan.

Mollaei trained in Israel with the Israeli national judo team in the months prior to the 2020 Summer Olympics.