In a shocking incident, security forces shot an Iranian man dead after Iran’s national team lost to the US and exited the World Cup. This comes as anti-government demonstrations took place inside and outside the stadium in Qatar and across Iran.
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Mehran Samak was killed for honking his car horn
Mehran Samak, 27, was shot dead after honking his car horn in Bandar Anzali, a city on the Caspian Sea coast, north-west of Tehran, according to human rights activists. He was celebrating the Iran football team’s loss at the FIFA World Cup.
Samak “was targeted directly and shot in the head by security forces … following the defeat of the national team against America”, said the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR).
The BBC shared a video of his funeral on Twitter. In the video, the mourners can be heard chanting, “You are the filth, you are the immoral, I am a free woman” – a slogan frequently used during the protests.
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تصاویری به دست بیبیسی فارسی رسیده که نشان میدهد مهران سماک، شهروندی که گفته میشود در جریان اعتراضهای بعد از باخت تیم ملی در برابر آمریکا کشته شده، در شهر بندر انزلی به خاک سپرده شده است. pic.twitter.com/uQ66HUaBXD
— BBC NEWS فارسی (@bbcpersian) November 30, 2022
Videos showed Iranians celebrating nation’s WC loss
Videos from other cities showed crowds cheering and dancing in the streets after the team’s loss.
Many Iranians refused to support their football team in Qatar, seeing it as a representation of the Islamic Republic.
State-affiliated media blamed hostile forces inside and outside Iran for putting unfair pressure on the players following their 1-0 loss to the USA in the final group game.
Iran is a country where people are very passionate about football. Now they are out in the streets in the city of Sanandaj & celebrate the loss of their football team against US.
They don’t want the government use sport to normalize its murderous regime.pic.twitter.com/EMh8mREsQn pic.twitter.com/MqpxQZqT20— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) November 29, 2022
The players did not sing the national anthem before their first game, a 6-2 defeat by England, expressing solidarity with the protesters.
But they did sing at the Wales game, which they won 2-0, and at the politically-charged showdown against the USA.
Some protesters saw that as a betrayal of their cause, even though there were reports that the team came under intense pressure from Iranian authorities.
The unrest following Mahsa Amini’s death
The contest between the two countries, which severed diplomatic ties more than 40 years ago, took place against a backdrop of violent repression in Iran after protests triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, in September. Morality police arrested her in Tehran for allegedly violating the strict rules requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab.
Mahsa Amini Death
Ever since, Iran’s security forces have killed at least 448 people in the crackdown on the protests, including 60 children under the age of 18 and 29 women, according to IHR.
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