Iranian Man Shot Dead for Celebrating Team’s Elimination from FIFA World Cup: Report

Dec 01, 2022, 21:11 IST

Tehran: An Iranian man was killed by the security forces for celebrating the Iran’s national team’s loss against the United States and subsequent elimination from the FIFA world cup.

According to human rights activists, 27-year-old Mehran Samak was shot dead for sounding horn in an Iranian city Bandar Anzali. He was shot in the head by the security forces, the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights said.

(Samak) “..was targeted directly and shot in the head by security forces … following the defeat of the national team against America,” said Iran Human Rights.

Iran is a country where people are very passionate about football. Now they are out in the streets in the city of Sanandaj & celebrate the loss of their football team against US.
They don’t want the government use sport to normalize its murderous regime.pic.twitter.com/EMh8mREsQn pic.twitter.com/MqpxQZqT20

— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) November 29, 2022

After the news of the killing of Samak came, Iranian international midfielder Saeid Ezatolahi posted a picture of Mehran Samak on his Instagram. He wrote in Persian that he is also from Bandar Anzali and Samak was his ‘childhood teammate’. He wrote, “Some day the masks will fall, the truth will be laid bare.”

The anti-Iran’s regime protests triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini continue to rock the country. In solidarity with the anti-government protesters, Iran's national football team declined to sing the country’s national anthem in their opening match in the World Cup in Qatar.

Following the reported threat from Iran's regime, the country’s footballers sang the national anthem ahead of their match against the Wales team and they won it 2-0. This volte-face appears to have irked Iran's football fans and protesters who saw that as a betrayal of their cause.