The eleven Iranian players refrained from singing their national anthem before the kick-off of their first match of the 2022 World Cup against England, this Monday in Doha.
During the week, their captain Alireza Jahanbakhsh explained that the players would decide “collectively” whether or not to sing the national anthem in support of the victims of the harshly repressed demonstrations in their country.
During this hymn, the cameras briefly showed the face of a spectator in her fifties, a white veil over her head, her face bathed in tears.
The players kept their faces completely impassive, while on the bench, a member of the delegation sang. Physically diminished, the star of the team Sardar Azmoun, who denounced the repression on social networks, does not hold.
“Women Life Freedom”, could be read in English on a banner in the stands occupied by the Iranians, which, withdrawn, quickly disappeared.
Since the beginning of the uprising in Iran, caused by the death on September 16 of the young Mahsa Amini (22), arrested by morality police in Tehran for not respecting the strict dress code imposed by the regime, the refusal to sing the anthem of the Islamic Republic has become one of the levers used by Iranian sportsmen to show their support for the movement.
On September 27, the national football team refused to sing this song before a friendly preparation match for the World Cup played in Austria against Senegal (1-1). Dressed in a black parka devoid of any crest and obscuring the Federation logo, the players remained silent, most with their heads bowed. This symbolic gesture, sometimes coupled with the wearing of a black armband as a sign of mourning, has since been taken up by many other Iranian athletes during competitions abroad.
On 6 November, during an international beach-soccer tournament in Dubai, one of the most prestigious in the discipline, the Iranian team also imitated “Team Melli”, forcing state television to cut off the live broadcast.
(With AFP)