Considered the greatest Iranian players of all time.
Ali Dai (Photo: GettyImages, Eurasia Sport Images)
Authorities in Iran yesterday (Monday) prevented the wife and daughter of former soccer star Ali Dai, who expressed support for anti-regime protesters, from leaving the country, when they diverted their flight that was on its way to Dubai.
The flight of the "Mahan Air" company was forced to land on the island of Kish in the Persian Gulf, when according to the judicial authority in the country the wife of the former star was forbidden to leave the borders of the country.
Dai expressed support for the anti-regime protests that began more than 100 days ago, and this month a jewelry store and restaurant he owned were closed.
"I really don't know the reason for this. Did they try to arrest a terrorist?" Dai told the ISNA news agency.
Dai is one of many celebrities in Iran who expressed sympathy with the protests that broke out following the death in custody of the Kurdish young woman Mehsa Amini on September 16 She was arrested because she violated the Islamic dress code, which requires women to cover their heads. Since then, many women dare to walk around without a hijab and defy the regime, which responded with severe violence against the protesters.
Iran accuses the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia of fueling the protests, which are among the worst the Islamic Republic has known since the revolution in 1979.
The authorities arrested dozens of Iranians with foreign citizenship, the latest of them this week.
Tehran claims that the latest arrests are related to Britain, and these, it claims, show the kingdom's "destructive role" in the riots.
Western countries deny that they are behind the protests, which they describe as a basic right of Iranian citizens.
According to the Organization of Human Rights Activists in Iran, 507 protesters have been killed in Iran as of December 25, including 69 teenagers and children, and 66 members of the security forces.
In addition, about 18,500 people have been arrested over the past few months, but the authorities claim that most of them have been released.
Others were sentenced to death, and two protesters have already been executed in recent weeks.
Apart from the mass arrests, the regime banned dozens of artists, lawyers, journalists and celebrities who sided with the protesters from leaving the borders of Iran.
Among those mobilizing in favor of the protestors' struggle is the businessman Elon Musk, who said yesterday that the "SpaceX" company he owns has close to a hundred satellite devices in Iran.
Starlink's satellite devices will be able to help protesters bypass the restrictions imposed by the regime on social networks, which are their main tool for organizing protests.
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