The Iranian regime has arrested football player Kaveh Rezaei for criticizing the regime. Human rights organization Hengaw reports this. Rezaei’s family confirmed the news to Hengaw. Rezaei played in our country for Charleroi, Club Brugge and OH Leuven.
Rezaei has been supporting protests against the Iranian authorities on social media in recent days. That will cost the player dearly. The footballer, who returned to Iran last summer to play for a local team, is behind bars for defaming the regime.
Thirty-year-old Rezaei currently plays for Tractor FC, but has been active in the Jupiler Pro League for the past five years at Charleroi, Club Brugge and OH Leuven. The striker also has 17 caps for the Iranian national team.
Mass protests against the Iranian regime began on September 16 after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Amini was killed after she was arrested for violating the strict dress code. At least 83 people have been killed during the protests, according to an NGO. Iran points an accusing finger at foreign countries that would fuel the protests.
19 dead
Since the protests, the situation has again become very unsettled in the country. At least 19 people have been killed in riots in the south of the country. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, which lost a local intelligence officer in the violence, speaks of “terrorist and separatist groups” attacking a police station in Zahedan. It is not clear whether the riots are directly related to the uprisings.
The provincial governor of Sistan and Baluchistan, Hossein Khiabani, speaks of ‘incidents’. This includes looted and burned shops as well as damaged government buildings and banks. Tasnim news agency reports that a Sunni rebel group, Jaish al-Adl, has claimed responsibility for the attack on the commissariat. The country is largely Shia.
