Players at the World Cup were warned that they must “behave” or their relatives will be punished.
Members of Iran’s World Cup soccer team have been warned that their families face imprisonment and torture if they don’t “behave” ahead of today’s game against the U.S.
According to a CNN source, the players were called to a meeting with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and told that they must sing the national anthem, and avoid all political protests.
“There are a large number of Iranian security officers in Qatar collecting information and monitoring the players,” the source said.
The Iranian players notably refused to sing their national anthem before playing their first game of the tournament against England on November 21, prompting widespread support for their courage on social media.
Their silence was interpreted as a mark of solidarity with the women-led uprising sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who fell into a coma after being detained by the country’s morality police for failing to wear her hijab properly.
According to CNN’s source, the Iranian players had been promised “presents and cars” before their first match, but after their public demonstration, the regime changed tack and began threatening them.
The source also claims that the Iranian regime delegated hundreds of actors to the World Cup stadium to give a false impression of support among the fans.
A tournament beset by controversy
The Iranian players’ bravery at the tournament so far has stood in stark contrast to the decisions made by other teams, which vowed to take their own stands in support of other human rights issues, but capitulated at the eleventh hour.
England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland players had promised to wear “One Love” armbands during their games to support LGBTQ rights but backed down at the last minute over fears they’d be disciplined.
“We are very frustrated by the Fifa decision, which we believe is unprecedented,” their joint statement read.
“We were prepared to pay fines that would normally apply to breaches of kit regulations and had a strong commitment to wearing the armband,” it continued. “However, we cannot put our players in the situation where they might be booked, or even forced to leave the field of play.”
LGBTQ rights have been a major point of contention at this year’s World Cup. Homosexual acts between men are illegal in the host country of Qatar, and are punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine.
A prominent Qatari doctor recently claimed that gay Qataries have been offered amnesties from torture in exchange for helping the regime track down other LGBTQ+ people.
“A lot [of gay Qataris] don’t know about each other,” Dr. Nasser Mohamed, who lives in the U.S., told The Guardian. “And it’s safer that way because when the law enforcement finds one person, they actively try to find their entire network. But some of the people who were captured and physically abused were then recruited as agents.”
