Picture Credit: Twitter
Iran is dealing with a really sensitive issue at the moment. While anti-veil protests are being held countrywide after the death of Mehsa Amini, people are doing everything in their capacity to show their anger over the incident. T he Iranian football team also joined the bandwagon as they covered their jersey with black jackets during their practice match against Senegal in Austria.
All the players of the team wore black jackets over their t-shirts while they stood for the national anthem. The videos of players standing solemnly with black jackets as they keep their arms around one another are being widely circulated online. The players took off their jackets after the national anthem.
“Iranian National Football(soccer) team wears all black to cover their country's colors in protest of the death of Mahsa Amini,” wrote a user while sharing the video.
This was not the first instance of football players standing in solidarity with the women of their country who are protesting against the religious dictatorship. Earlier this month, Iranian football player Sardar Azmoun posted an Instagram story in support of the protests.
As per translations by the Iran Wire, he wrote, “Because of the national team rules we couldn’t say anything until the World Cup training camp was over. But I couldn’t bear it anymore. At worst I’ll be dismissed from the national team. No problem. I’d sacrifice that for one hair on the heads of Iranian women. This story will not be deleted. They can do whatever they want. Shame on you for killing so easily; long live Iranian women.”
Players Alireza Biranvand and Majid Hosseini also posted similar solidarity messages on Instagram but as reported by the Iran Wire, they deleted their stories after a few hours.