The looming backdrop to Iran’s World Cup campaign is a nationwide protest movement back home targeting its clerical leadership, and the tensions, inescapable and persistent, are spilling onto the field.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Iran arrests soccer’s Voria Ghafouri amid scrutiny of World Cup team<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
So far, in Iran’s first two matches, fans have held signs or waved banners in support of the protests. Arguments have broken out between pro- and anti-government supporters in the stadium and its surroundings. The displays have laid bare the depth of Iran’s malaise and alarmed the Qatari hosts, who said before the tournament that one of their biggest fears was that the political conflicts in the region could play out during the tournament.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\nAn Iranian woman was forced to change her shirt displaying a women’s rights slogan before being allowed into the World Cup match between Wales and Iran. (Video: Kevin Amirehsani via Storyful)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The protests in Iran started in September after the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody. A crackdown by the authorities has killed hundreds of people, human rights groups say.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Members of Iran’s national team are in a vise, called upon by the protest movement to speak out against a government that brooks no dissent. On Thursday, authorities arrested a former national team player, Voria Ghafouri, in Iran, in what was widely seen as a warning to members of the World Cup squad to keep their mouths shut.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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They had done just that ahead of their first match in Qatar, against England, declining to sing the national anthem in what was widely seen as a show of support for the protest movement. On Friday, though, team members elected to sing, as whistles and boos echoed around Ahmad bin Ali Stadium.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Before the match against Wales, a few supporters of the Iranian team said that while they were happy at the team’s earlier refusal to sing, they worried that the players were facing an inordinate amount of pressure to comment on politics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cIt’s a very delicate time,\u201d said a 28-year-old Iranian who lives in Britain and attended Friday’s match with his brother, who lives in the United States. \u201cI don’t think we should be throwing hate and shame at the players,\u201d added the man, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect relatives in Iran.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cThey are young guys, here to play football,\u201d his brother said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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There were signs Friday of a more determined effort to silence political protest, such as the removal of the woman wearing the protest T-shirt. A witness said that police approached another Iranian supporter who had put black tape on the Iranian flag, as well as her mouth, and made her remove them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Photos showed a police officer confronting another woman who held an Amini T-shirt and wore makeup that approximated blood streaming from her eyes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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It was not clear whether there was a directive from FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, to tamp down political displays, or from Qatari authorities, but the policy appeared unevenly enforced. Allen Shahipour, who wore a homemade \u201cWoman, Life, Freedom\u201d T-shirt, said he was allowed inside. So was a 34-year-old named Peari, from Isfahan in Iran, who wore a button-down shirt silk-screened with an artistic tribute to Amini.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe are so happy\u201d with Iran’s win Friday, she said. But to her, the victory had little to do with the protest movement. \u201cI don’t think this will affect anything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Another man, named Ajmal, disagreed. \u201cI think this is good for the revolution,\u201d he said about Friday’s game, including the whistling during the anthem. \u201cThe government doesn’t hear us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\nIran turned what looked to be a draw against Wales into a 2-0 victory in the final minutes of World Cup’s Group B in Qatar on Nov. 25. (Video: Jackson Barton, Sarah Parnass\/The Washington Post)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Attendees widely suspected that Iranian officials were present at the match. \u201cThey are inside. They are outside. They look like spectators. They look like you. They look like me,\u201d said a 43-year-old man from Tehran, wearing an Iran jersey as he left the stadium with a childhood friend.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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For the two of them, the victory and the accompanying euphoria were a welcome distraction from whatever was going on back home. \u201cWe needed this win,\u201d said the man with the jersey. His friend said the win was \u201ccomplicated,\u201d but he agreed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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After the England match, which Iran lost 6-2, the friend had chain-smoked cigarettes \u2014 not because of the loss, he said, but because of all the tension in the air. \u201cIt’s getting better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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The loss prompted Iran’s coach, Carlos Queiroz, to chide the fans for criticizing the team, for the pressure he said they had placed on his players. He \u201casked people to support Iran,\u201d said Mac Taba, 33. At the stadium Friday, through all the noise, the fans had done just that, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Besides, \u201cwe needed to get a win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/p>\nWhat to know about the World Cup<\/p>\n
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View 3 more stories <\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Comment on this story Comment DOHA, Qatar \u2014 The woman stood crying at the soccer stadium gate, surrounded by policemen, pleading to be allowed back in to find her husband. She wore the slogan of Iran’s uprising \u2014 woman, life, freedom \u2014 on her black T-shirt, and for that, she told passersby, she had been …<\/p>\n
Iranian fans celebrate World Cup win against Wales but keep up protests<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nIranian fans celebrate World Cup win against Wales but keep up protests - harchi90<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n