Iranian football legend Ali Daei said a plane travelling from Tehran to Dubai had been rerouted, and his wife and daughter ordered off, according to Iranian news organisations.
Daei — one of Iran’s most famous footballers and a former German Bundesliga striker whose 109 goals at the international level were long unsurpassed until Cristiano Ronaldo overtook him — said his wife and daughter had flown on a Mahan Air flight, taking off from the Iranian capital’s Imam Khomeini Airport on Monday, headed to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) reported.
But the plane was rerouted and made to land on Iran’s Kish Island in the Gulf, where “Ali Daei’s wife and daughter got off the plane”, the state news agency IRNA said.
Daei — who has expressed support for the protest movement that has rocked Iran since the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, after her arrest in Tehran by morality police for an alleged breach of the country’s strict dress code for women — said he was trying to arrange his family’s return to Tehran.
“My daughter and wife were taken off the flight, but they were not arrested,” Daei said, according to a report by ISNA.
“Had they been banned [from leaving], the passport police system should have shown it: No one has given me an answer about this. I really don’t know what is the reason for these things,” he said.
“My wife and daughter were going to Dubai for a few days trip and back”, he added.
The flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed Mahan Air Flight W563 being diverted to Kish Island before travelling onward to Dubai a couple of hours later.
Quoting the judiciary, IRNA said that “Daei’s wife had pledged to inform the relevant institutions of her decision before leaving the country”, following their “association with the groups against the Islamic revolution and rioters and calling for strikes”.
There was no comment from the airline or Iranian authorities.
