- Henry Astaire
- BBC news
Ali Daei participated in the final draw for the Qatar World Cup
Iranian football legend Ali Daei says an international flight was hijacked to prevent his wife and daughter from leaving Iran.
Daei, 53, who has supported the anti-government demonstrations, said his family attempted to fly from Tehran to Dubai to join him on vacation on Monday.
But they were returned after the flight landed on one of the Iranian islands in the Gulf.
Daei added that no reason was given and they would return to Tehran.
The official IRNA news agency said Daei’s wife Mona Farrukhzri had pledged to inform the authorities before leaving the country, after what it described as the couple’s “association with groups opposed to the Islamic revolution “.
“IRNA” explained that the flight landed on the island of Kish and that “Ali Daei’s wife and daughter got off the plane”.
Daei said his wife and daughter “were going back and forth to Dubai for a few days” and added: “If they were prevented (from leaving), the passport system should have shown that. Nobody gave me an answer about this topic.”
In a post on social media last September, Daei urged the government to “solve the problems of the Iranian people instead of using repression, violence and arrests”.
In early December, the judiciary shut down Daei’s jewelry store and restaurant in Tehran.
In addition to the arrests, Iranian authorities have banned many celebrities, artists and prominent personalities from leaving the country after their support for the protests.
Ali Daei is one of the most famous Iranian sports figures. A former captain of the national football team, he scored 109 international goals in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Protests erupted last September after the shady death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Guidance Police, in the capital, Tehran, for violating the rules of wearing the hijab. He died on September 16, three days later.
Officers were reported to have hit her on the head with a baton in a car, but police denied she had been mistreated and said she had suffered a heart attack.
Rights activists said more than 500 protesters, including 69 children, were killed, while thousands more were arrested.
On the other hand, dozens of Iranian security personnel were reported to have been killed.
Iranian authorities accuse protesters of engaging in violence during demonstrations, which has prompted some personalities to warn against falling back on the consequences of it, notably reformist former president Muhammad Khatami.
