FIFA are being urged to kick Iran out of the World Cup just a month before the brutal Islamic state plays its opener in Qatar against England.
Campaigners are demanding football’s world governing body take a stand after more than 200 protesters were killed in a crackdown by Iran’s religious morality police.
The country has been rocked by an uprising triggered when a student died in police custody after she was held for not wearing her headscarf correctly.
It comes as Iran faces global outrage for shipping weapons to Vladimir Putin’s beleaguered forces in Ukraine.
The kamikaze drones which slammed into residential areas of Kyiv yesterday killing at least seven people came from Iran.
The hijab protests erupted last month after student Mahsa Amini, 22, died following her arrest in Tehran by the country’s religious morality police.
READ MORE ON THE WORLD CUP
More than 200 people including 23 children have since died in the biggest threat to the Islamic state since it seized power in the 1979 revolution.
Protesters are now demanding Fifa act with just 34 days to go before Iran’s opener in Qatar against the Three Lions at the Khalifa International Stadium on November 21.
Even Iran’s own players have slammed their government.
Striker Sardar Azmoun, 27, who plays for Bayer Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga, said on Instagram: “Shame on you for killing the people and women of Iran.”
Most read in Football
And former team manager and ex-captain Ali Daei, 53, who held the record for most international goals with 109 until it was overtaken by Cristiano Ronaldo, had his passport confiscated when he spoke out.
A petition which has gained more than 12,000 signatures on change.org called on Fifa to boot the country out of the tournament.
It accused Iran of suppressing “legitimate protests” by “arresting, torturing, and killing” its own citizens.
Another group is campaigning under the slogan #DisqualifyIranianRegimeFromTheWorldCup.
A spokesman said: “Iran violates international human rights time and time again. It disregards international conventions leading to horrific, extreme human rights violations and terror acts against their own citizens.
“Even the agreement with Fifa to allow women to attend qualification games for the World Cup was rescinded by this regime who sent their forces to violently keep women from entering the stadium.
“The Iranian regime crushes human rights on a daily basis – Iran should be disqualified from the Fifa World Cup.”
We will hold you to account for your repression of women and girls
James Cleverly
Britain has imposed sanctions on the morality police in an attempt to end the violent clampdown.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said: “These sanctions send a clear message to the Iranian authorities – we will hold you to account for your repression of women and girls and for the shocking violence you have inflicted on your own people.”
But campaigners feel that kicking Iran out of the World Cup would send a much stronger message to the brutal regime.
Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Iran of supplying weapons to Russia.
Iranian-made drones killed at least seven people in the latest attacks on residential areas of Kyiv yesterday.
And Western officials have said that Iran plans to supply more attack drones and surface-to-surface missiles to use against Ukrainian cities and troop positions.
Read More on The Sun
Among the armaments being shipped to Russian forces are Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar missiles, short-range ballistic missiles capable of striking targets 430 miles away.
Fifa has been contacted for comment.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
