Photo by Papas Dos, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia
On Monday, Iranian authorities ordered a plane not to leave the country. The Mahan Air plane, which made flight W563 from Tehran to Dubai, had to land on the island of Kish for an unusual reason: on board were the wife and son of the former football player and coach Ali Daei, who moved from the island became plane.
Daei has been the subject of threats since he expressed his support for the 100day protests against the Iranian regime and the country’s oppression of women. The former athlete’s wife, in turn, was banned from leaving the country for “activities that would encourage a strike,” according to authorities Tasnim and Isna, who circumvented the ban “with an illegal act” and are holding protests.
However, according to Daei, his wife was not arrested, only prevented from leaving the country and her passport was confiscated.
The former player, who is well known across Iran, has received a series of threats after expressing his support for the protests that have been going on in the Islamic Republic for more than three months following the death of Mahsa Amini. Two businesses, a restaurant and a jewelry store, in which he was involved were also seized earlier in the month.
The flight deviation was captured by FlightRadar24 as shown in the image below.
Replay of Mahan Air flight #W563 from Tehran to Dubai, which was forced to divert to Kish Island. https://t.co/I7V0hZZFED https://t.co/XuVfqzBPTh
— Flugradar24 (@flugradar24) December 26, 2022