A family of record-breaking footballers have stopped leaving Iran after criticism

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A record-breaking Iranian footballer who has backed anti-government protests has said his wife and daughter were prevented from leaving the country after their plane made an unexpected stopover.

Ali Daei, 53, whose passport was briefly confiscated after returning home earlier this year, said his wife and daughter left the capital, Tehran, legally before their flight ended on Iran. Kish Island in the Persian Gulf, where they were interrogated by authorities.

He said his daughter was released but the doors to the flight were closed at the time. His family had planned to travel to Dubai and return next week, he said.

Flight tracking website Flightradar24 showed Mahan Air flight W563 was diverted to Kish Island before heading to Dubai hours later.

Ali Daei fights for the ball with Joao Jamba of Angola in 2006 (PA)

There was no comment from the airline or Iranian authorities.

No one had scored more international goals than Daei, who netted 109 times for Iran before later managing his country, before Cristiano Ronaldo broke his record in 2021.

He is one of many Iranian celebrities to show support for protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September.

The Kurdish woman died after being arrested by Iranian vice police in Tehran for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code.

The protests quickly spread across the country and turned into calls to overthrow the theocracy established after the 1979 revolution, making it one of the biggest challenges to clerical power in more than four decades.

At least 507 protesters have been killed and more than 18,500 people have been arrested, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that closely monitors the unrest.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is believed to be close to the Revolutionary Guards, said a travel ban was imposed on Daeis’ wife earlier this month because of her support for the protests.

Without giving further details, he said that she had attempted to circumvent the ban illegally and that her final destination was the United States. Reports did not name Daeis’ wife or daughter, who are not public figures.

Iranian authorities today ordered Mahan Air flight W563 from Tehran to Dubai to land on Kish Island and forced the wife and child of former footballer Ali Daei off the plane.

Daei, a supporter of the protests, says his family has not been arrested. He was not on the plane. pic.twitter.com/h3CRg3EgfM

Kian Sharifi (@KianSharifi) December 26, 2022

Iranian authorities have not released figures on those killed or arrested.

Before his passport was confiscated, Daei, a former Iranian captain, took to social media to urge the government to solve the problems of the Iranian people rather than resorting to repression, violence and arrests.

The passport was returned later, he said.

The leaderless protesters, rallying under the slogan women, life, freedom, say they have had enough after decades of social and political repression by a clergy they see as corrupt and out of touch.

Iranian authorities have blamed the unrest on foreign adversaries like the United States and Israel.

Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards said in a statement on Sunday that they had arrested seven people involved in the protests with a direct link to Britain.

Without further details, he said some members of the network had dual nationality.

Iran has arrested a number of Iranians with dual nationality in recent years and convicted them of endangering state security in closed trials.

Rights groups say these detainees are being denied due process and accuse Iran of using them as bargaining chips with the West, which Iranian officials deny.

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