Former Iranian international footballer Ali Karimi has been charged in absentia by authorities in Tehran over his support for anti-government protesters who have taken to the streets across the country in recent weeks after the death of a 22-year-old woman who was being held in custody for failing to "properly wear" an Islamic head scarf, or hijab.
The Dubai-based Karimi, a former soccer player with Bayern Munich and once the captain of Iran’s national soccer team, has been under pressure from the security forces in recent days over his posts on social media, including on Instagram, where he has nearly 12 million followers.
Karimi, widely regarded as one of the greatest Iranian players of all time, has condemned Amini’s death while lending his support to the protesters, particularly women. He has also urged security forces not to allow “innocent blood to be shed.”
The semiofficial Mehr News agency reported that Karimi has been charged with unlawful “assembly and collusion with the intention of acting against national security,” an accusation often used by Iran against dissidents and critics.
Karimi was one of the first celebrities to condemn the death of Mahsa Amini, who died three days after being detained by Iran's morality police on September 13 for allegedly wearing a hijab improperly.
Her death has sparked a wave of protests across the country despite government warnings that a harsh crackdown on any dissent will continue.
Videos posted on social media showed demonstrations taking place in several cities across the country on the evening of October 4 and in the morning of October 5.
In one of the videos, protesters in the Iranian capital, Tehran, are seen gathering on Shariati Street with many women blocking it completely.
In a video from Ferdowsi University in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, students can be heard chanting "Referendum, referendum," a reference to their demand to hold a vote to change the how Iran is run.
In another video, a girl's school brought a member of the IRGC-run Basij paramilitary, to talk to the students. The girls then welcomed the speaker by removing their hijabs and shouting "Get lost, Basiji!"
Amid the protests there have been many reports of arrests and deaths as security forces clamp down. Meanwhile, the government has imposed restrictions on access to the Internet, while reports published on social media on October 5 indicate that a number of Persian- and Kurdish-language channels broadcast over the Eutelsat satellite in Iran have experienced outages.
News of Amini's death struck a nerve in a country already wracked by social unrest over poor living conditions and economic hardships exacerbated by crippling U.S. economic sanctions in response to Iran's nuclear program.
Iran Human Rights, an Oslo-based rights organization, says at least 154 people, including 9 children, have been killed during the 18 days of protest.