(Washington Insider Magazine) – Iranian government officials flexed their authoritarian muscles this week against an Iranian woman and her teenage daughter. Authorities forced an Iranian airline to land one of its jets carrying both citizens bound for Dubai for a vacation.
Ali Daei Flight News – What Happened on Ali Daei’s Return Flight?
Ali Daei, one of Iran’s most famous professional soccer athletes, is the woman’s husband, the daughter’s father, and, more recently, an outspoken protester against the Iranian government’s egregious human rights abuses.
Iran is in the midst of prolonged and bitter internal turmoil. For the past 100 days, Iranian officials have been increasingly overwrought with boisterous human rights protests sweeping across their country. So far, the Iranian government has executed hundreds of citizens for protesting, while many others were killed or injured during the protests.
The emboldened protests were set into motion by the tragic death of 22-year-old Jina “Mahsa” Amini. On September 13th, Mahsa was arrested and beaten by Iranian authorities for wearing her hijab improperly, a criminal offense under Islamic law. Three days later, she died in custody.
Sparking outrage across the nation by both men and women fed up with Iran’s oppressive laws, especially towards women, the protests quickly spread throughout the country.
Fifty-three-year-old Daei, former national soccer team captain, has been a particularly vocal critic of his home country’s human rights abuses. Even Iran’s Soccer Team refused to sing Iran’s national anthem at the 2022 World Cup as a show of solidarity with their fellow protesters.
Yet so far, because Daei is a beloved national celebrity, he remains seemingly untouched by the government.
However, the Iranian authorities learned that Daei’s wife and daughter were en route from Tehran to Dubai on a Mahan Air flight. They quickly mobilized efforts to order the pilot to land the plane on the Iranian island of Kish in the Persian Gulf. Iranian authorities forced the pair off the plane, claiming that Daei’s wife violated a travel ban previously imposed on her, a claim both Daei and his wife deny.
Iranian authorities claim that Daei’s wife and daughter were escaping to the United States. At the same time, the family maintains that they were simply vacation bound to Dubai.
Despite Iran’s typically overt acts of intimidation, there have been no arrests yet.