A restaurant and a jewellery shop belonging to Iranian football legend Ali Daei have been sealed, following a judicial order after he backed the ongoing protests.
According to ISNA news agency, Daei’s two shops situated in Tehran’s fashionable north end have been immediately shut down.
“Following the cooperation with anti-revolutionary groups in cyberspace to disrupt peace and business of the market, a judicial order was issued to seal Noor Jewellery Gallery,” reported the agency.
The order by the Iranian judiciary comes roughly a week after Daei said he had been targetted by threats for backing the protests, triggered by the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran’s morality police.
“I have received numerous threats against myself and my family in recent months and days from some organisations, medias and unknown individuals,” said Daei in an Instagram post.
“I was taught humanity, honour, patriotism and freedom…What do you want to achieve with such threats?” he added.
Rumours had been swirling last month that the Iranian authorities arrested Daei and put him on a death sentence. After the news spread like fire, the Iranian Football Federation released a statement and denied that such an incident had took place.
The protests in Iran have been ongoing for over three months now. The demonstrators on Sunday called for a three-day strike this week, including a rally to Tehran’s Azadi (Freedom) Square on Wednesday which was supported by Daei.
Daei held the record for the highest international goalscorer (109) in the world for a long time before Cristiano Ronaldo surpassed it last year. He achieved the record in a mere 148 appearances between 1993 and 2006. He is widely regarded as one of the legends of the game.
(With inputs from agencies)
