During the opening match against England at the FIFA World Cup on Monday, Iran’s national men’s soccer team chose not to sing their national anthem in an apparent show of support for the ongoing protests back home.
All 11 starting players stood silent while the Iranian anthem played inside the Khalifa International Stadium in Qatar.
World Reactions to Mahsa Amini’s Death in Iran
The nationwide protests against Iran’s clerical leaders, which were sparked by the alleged killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini by the country’s “morality police,” are now entering their third month. Since the protests began, 17,451 protesters have been detained and 426 have been killed, according to the latest figures by the Human Rights Activists News Agency, or HRANA.
Many protesters speculated whether players representing IR Iran, or the Islamic Republic of Iran, would use the event as a platform to show solidarity with the movement.
On Sunday, defender Ehsan Hajsafi, who plays for AEK Athens, was the first member to speak out in support of the protests. “We have to accept the conditions in our country are not right and our people are not happy,” Hajsafi said at a news conference. “We are here but it does not mean we should not be their voice or we should not respect them.
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