Iranian football legend Ali Daei says family ordered off flight

Iranian soccer legend Ali Daei stated a aircraft traveling from Tehran to Dubai were rerouted, and his spouse and daughter ordered off, in step with Iranian information organisations.

Daei — certainly considered one among Iran’s maximum well-known footballers and a former German Bundesliga striker whose 109 desires on the global stage had been lengthy unsurpassed till Cristiano Ronaldo overtook him — stated his spouse and daughter had flown on a Mahan Air flight, starting up from the Iranian capital’s Imam Khomeini Airport on Monday, headed to Dubai withinside the United Arab Emirates, the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reported.

But the aircraft become rerouted and made to land on Iran’s Kish Island withinside the Gulf, where “Ali Daei’s spouse and daughter were given off the aircraft”, the country information enterprise IRNA stated.

Daei — who has expressed guide for the protest motion that has rocked Iran because the dying of Mahsa Amini, 22, after her arrest in Tehran via way of means of morality police for an alleged breach of the united states of america’s strict get dressed code for women — stated he become seeking to set up his family’s go back to Tehran.

“My daughter and spouse had been taken off the flight, however they had been now no longer arrested,” Daei stated, in step with a file via way of means of ISNA.

“Had they been banned [from leaving], the passport police machine ought to have proven it: No one has given me a solution approximately this. I honestly don’t recognize what’s the purpose for those things,” he stated.

“My spouse and daughter had been going to Dubai for some days ride and back”, he added.

The flight-monitoring internet site Flightradar24 confirmed Mahan Air Flight W563 being diverted to Kish Island earlier than traveling onward to Dubai more than one hours later.

Quoting the judiciary, IRNA stated that “Daei’s spouse had pledged to tell the applicable establishments of her selection earlier than leaving the united states of america”, following their “affiliation with the organizations towards the Islamic revolution and rioters and calling for strikes”.

There become no remark from the airline or Iranian government.

The semi-reputable Tasnim information enterprise, believed to be near the Revolutionary Guard, stated a journey ban become imposed on Daei’s spouse in advance this month due to her guide for the protests. It stated she attempted to illegally skip the ban, with out elaborating, and that her very last vacation spot become the US. The reviews did now no longer call his spouse or daughter, who aren’t public figures.

Protests have gripped Iran because the dying in September of Iranian-Kurdish Amini.

Daei, on September 27, used social media to name at the authorities to “clear up the troubles of the Iranian humans as opposed to the use of repression, violence and arrests”.

In October, Daei informed the Agence France-Presse information enterprise that his passport become confiscated via way of means of police upon his go back from abroad, earlier than being lower back to him some days later.

Earlier in December, his jewelry store and eating place in Tehran’s elegant north had been sealed, with nearby media reporting they were ordered close for “cooperation with anti-progressive organizations in our on-line world to disrupt peace and enterprise of the market”.

Daei — whose glittering profession worried gambling in Iran’s 2-1 World Cup victory towards the US in 1998 — stated he has been centered via way of means of threats after backing the protests precipitated via way of means of the dying of Amini.

The protests have unfold throughout the united states of america and feature posed the most important task to Iranian government in many years. At least 507 protesters were killed, and extra than 18,500 humans were arrested, in step with Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRAI), a set that has carefully monitored the unrest. Iranian government have now no longer launched figures for the ones killed or arrested.

The leaderless protesters, rallying beneathneath the slogan “women, life, freedom”, say they’re uninterested after many years of social and political repression via way of means of a clerical establishment. Iranian government have blamed the unrest on overseas adversaries just like the US and Israel.