The well-known soccer player Voria Ghafouri was arrested on Thursday in Iran on charges of anti-state propaganda. The Iranian agency Fars reported that Ghafouri was taken into custody on the instructions of the judicial authorities after a training session at his club Foolad Khuzestan.
The 35-year-old is accused of insulting the Iranian national team and “smearing their reputation”. He also ran “propaganda against the system”. Ghafouri comes from Sanandaj, the capital of the Iranian province of Kurdistan. His Instagram profile shows him in a photo in traditional Kurdish clothing.
He was captain of well-known capital city club Esteghlal Tehran but was banned from the club in July for repeatedly criticizing the Iranian authorities.
Iran has been shaken by a wave of protests since mid-September. The trigger was the death of the 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in police custody – she had been arrested by the vice squad because she is said to have worn her headscarf improperly.
