Iranian football player Voria Ghafouri arrested amid World Cup scrutiny

Name: Death to dictators, protesters chant as crowds defy authorities at Tehran metro stations
Uploaded: 2022-11-24T18:51:41.000Z
Duration: 1 min 56 s
Description: Death to dictators, protesters chant as crowds defy authorities at Tehran metro stations

The ex-national team member had criticised the government over its crackdown on protests sparked by the death of death of Mahsa Amini in morality police custody

The UN Human Rights Council voted on Thursday to condemn the crackdown and to create an independent fact-finding mission to investigate alleged abuses

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Esteghlal’s defender Voria Ghafouri (left) is marked by Ahli’s defender Mohammed al-Fatil during the AFC Champions League group C match between Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahli and Iran’s Esteghlal in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in April 2021. Photo: AFP

Associated Press

Published: 2:51am, 25 Nov 2022Updated: 3:25am, 25 Nov 2022

Iran arrested a prominent former member of its national football team on Thursday over his criticism of the government as authorities grapple with nationwide protests that have cast a shadow over its competition at the World Cup.

The semi-official Fars and Tasnim news agencies reported that Voria Ghafouri was arrested for “insulting the national soccer team and propagandising against the government”.

Ghafouri, who was not chosen to go to the World Cup, has been an outspoken critic of Iranian authorities throughout his career. He objected to a long-standing ban on women spectators at men’s football matches as well as Iran’s confrontational foreign policy, which has led to crippling Western sanctions.

More recently, he expressed sympathy for the family of a 22-year-old woman whose death while in the custody of Iran’s morality police ignited the latest protests. In recent days he also called for an end to a violent crackdown on protests in Iran’s western Kurdistan region.

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Death to dictators, protesters chant as crowds defy authorities at Tehran metro stations

The reports of his arrest came ahead of Friday’s World Cup match between Iran and Wales. At Iran’s opening match, a 6-2 loss to England, the members of the Iranian national team declined to sing along to their national anthem and some fans expressed support for the protests.