High-cost and pointless display of power
High-cost and pointless display of power: According to Iran Gate, returning the plane after crossing the border while all passengers had legally completed the passport police procedures at the airport.
And near the destination Dubai, suddenly the plane refrained from landing at Dubai airport and headed towards Kish, landing at Kish airport. Security agents boarded the plane, removed two passengers, and did not allow them to continue their journey.
Of course, these two passengers, who are a young woman and her teenage daughter, were neither detained nor interrogated; they were simply removed and prevented from traveling to Dubai, even though they were not banned from leaving the country.
These two passengers are the wife and daughter of Iran’s national football legend and world goal-scoring champion, Ali Daei. Apparently, Ali Daei’s statements and support for recent protests and his backing of the protesting people have not been without cost for him.
We should also note that Ali Daei’s wife, as a successful woman in the jewelry trade, has always supported the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement and even consistently demonstrated this support by closing her jewelry cart during strikes. This behavior by the security apparatus might have been a warning to the Daei family.
Reactions to this incident
On Monday, Ali Daei reacted to this incident by telling ISNA news agency that his wife and daughter legally boarded the plane from Imam Khomeini Airport to go to Dubai, but the Mahan Airlines plane was returned from Dubai and landed in Kish. I am currently following up on their situation to return them from Kish to Tehran.
He said that after his daughter and wife were removed from the plane, an hour later they said his daughter could go, and when she wanted to go, they said the plane’s doors were closed, and she couldn’t go either. In response to the question of whether his wife and daughter were banned from leaving the country, he said if they were banned, the passport police system should have indicated it.
No one has given me an answer about this issue. I really don’t know the reason for these actions. Did they want to arrest a terrorist? My wife and daughter were supposed to go to Dubai for a few days and return. Even their return flight was scheduled for next Monday.
This action sparked many reactions, with journalist Mohammad Hassan Najmi tweeting that the last time a plane was landed at an airport other than its destination and publicized was to arrest Abdulmalek Rigi. This time it reached Ali Daei’s wife and daughter. Are Ali Daei’s wife and daughter as dangerous as Rigi, or what? He added, if there was a problem, why weren’t they arrested? If there wasn’t, why were they returned?
Another journalist, Mohammad Hossein Nejati, tweeted that being a dictator and oppressor is one thing, being a stupid dictator and oppressor is another. Political activist Ali Afshari also tweeted that the hostility and malice of intelligence agencies against Ali Daei, the prince of Iranian football, is an enlightening sign of the irreformability, belligerence, and foolishness of the rulers of the Islamic Republic. He added that this action, besides being vengeful, indicates fear.
Iman Safati, a journalist for Germany’s Bild, wrote that the region’s top power was afraid of Ali Daei’s wife and daughter leaving. Meanwhile, Kian Abdollahi, who introduces himself as the editor-in-chief of Tasnim news agency, tweeted that Ali Daei’s daughter had no problem traveling and chose not to continue the journey. Ali Daei’s wife’s final destination was to travel to the USA.
On the other hand, Saeed Dehghan, a lawyer, tweeted that in the Islamic Republic, you can be neither a criminal nor convicted and still be banned from leaving the country.
Tasnim: Ali Daei’s wife and daughter were banned from leaving the country by a resolution of the National Security Council.
An informed source told Tasnim news agency that Ali Daei’s wife was banned from leaving the country by a judicial order due to her involvement in riots and incitement to strike from November 15 to 17 and December 5 to 7.
However, she illegally lifted her travel ban and boarded today’s Tehran to Dubai flight, but with the authorities’ awareness, before she could leave the country, her travel to Dubai was prevented by a judicial order and a resolution of the National Security Council.
Therefore, there is no arrest involved in this matter, and Ali Daei’s wife is on her way to Tehran after being removed from the plane. Furthermore, Ali Daei’s daughter had no problem traveling and chose not to continue the journey. Ali Daei’s wife’s final destination was to travel to the USA.
Ali Daei: The claim that my wife and daughter intended to travel to the USA is false. Here is their return ticket.
According to Tabnak Sports, in recent months, the confiscation of Ali Daei’s passport, a prominent figure in the history of Iranian and world football, by judicial order at the airport made headlines, and shortly after, the news of the return of the former world national football top scorer’s passport was published. Ali Daei has exclusively discussed the details and reasons for this action with Tabnak.
The issue of removing your wife and daughter from the Mahan Airlines flight bound for Dubai has caused a lot of talk. What exactly happened, especially before the trip, to your family?
Look, we don’t have foresight to know before going to the airport whether we have permission to leave the country or not. My wife, along with my daughter, went to the airport this morning, and after checking in their luggage and passing through the inspection gate before boarding the plane, after checking their passports, receiving the legal stamp, and obtaining legal permission to leave the country, they passed through the airport police passport control and boarded the Mahan Airlines plane bound for Dubai.
The tickets for my wife and daughter are available, and people can see the issue date and their departure and return dates. Ali Daei provided the media with images of his wife and child’s round-trip tickets for publication, which you can see.
Costly and futile
Although such a display of power is designed and executed to instill fear in influential figures in sports and the arts, it is clear from the reactions generated in the media and social networks that these actions backfire rather than achieving the pre-designed goal.
The fact that the National Security Council convenes to remove the wife and child of a national hero from a plane and prevent their travel greatly diminishes and questions the status and dignity of this institution.
The news of this incident quickly spread in international media, and most political analysts and commentators of these media were baffled by such an action. It seems that during a crisis period, when decisions of prudence and patience should be made to control the situation and manage the crisis, the country’s security managers are trying to create a crisis to get past previous crises, the outcome of which is quite evident.
