DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A distinguished former soccer participant in Iran who has expressed help for anti-government protests mentioned his spouse and daughter have been prevented from leaving the nation on Monday after their airplane made an unannounced stopover en path to Dubai.
Ali Daei, who had his personal passport briefly confiscated earlier this yr, mentioned his spouse and daughter had departed from the capital, Tehran, legally earlier than the flight made an unannounced cease on Kish Island within the Persian Gulf, the place they have been questioned by Iranian authorities.
He mentioned his daughter had been launched however the doorways to the flight have been closed by then. He mentioned his household had deliberate to journey to Dubai and return subsequent week.
The flight-tracking web site Flightradar24 confirmed Mahan Air Flight W563 being diverted to Kish Island, a part of Iran, earlier than touring onward to Dubai a pair hours later.
There was no remark from the airline or Iranian authorities.
The semiofficial Tasnim information company, believed to be near the Revolutionary Guards, mentioned a journey ban had been imposed on Mr. Daei’s spouse earlier this month due to her help for the protests. It mentioned she had tried to illegally bypass the ban, with out elaborating, and that her ultimate vacation spot was the US.
Mr. Daei is one in every of a number of Iranian celebrities who’ve come out in help of the protests, which have been set off by the dying of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September. The Kurdish girl died after being arrested by Iran’s morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating the nation’s strict costume code for ladies.
The protests quickly unfold throughout the nation and escalated into requires the overthrow of the theocracy established after the 1979 revolution, making it one of many greatest challenges to clerical rule in over 4 a long time.
No less than 507 protesters have been killed and greater than 18,500 individuals have been arrested, in response to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a gaggle that has carefully monitored the unrest. Iranian authorities haven’t launched figures for these killed or arrested.
Iran has additionally executed some protesters, together with a 23-year-old man who was publicly hanged earlier this month.
Earlier than his passport was confiscated, Mr. Daei, a high worldwide purpose scorer and former Iranian crew captain, had urged the federal government on social media to “clear up the issues of the Iranian individuals quite than utilizing repression, violence and arrests.”
Supply: NY Times
