DUBAI: Tehran has charged Iranian international footballer Ali Karimi in absentia for his support of the recent anti-government protests taking place in various parts of the country.
The Dubai-based footballer, who was a former player at German sports club Bayern Munich, has allegedly been under pressure by Iranian security forces in recent days over his posts on social media, reported Radio Farda.
This comes after people took to the country’s streets in recent weeks, fanned by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after being arrested by morality police for failing to ‘properly wear’ the hijab. Amini was rushed to the hospital shortly after her arrest and died three days later.
Karimi, widely regarded as one of the greatest Iranian players of all time, condemned the young woman’s death by supporting protesters and urged security forces to avoid ‘innocent blood to be shed.’
Mehr News Agency has reportedly said that the Iranian footballer has been charged with unlawful ‘assembly and collusion with the intention of acting against national security’, wrote Radio Farda.
The football legend, once described as the Asian Maradona, was one of the first celebrities to condemn the death of Mahsa Amini, added Radio Farda.
The young woman’s death sparked a wave of protests across Iran despite the government warning of harsh crackdowns.
Videos posted on social media show demonstrations taking place in several cities across the country and around the world in support of the cause.
In one of the videos, protesters in the Iranian capital Tehran are seen gathering on Shariati Street with many women blocking it completely.
Iran charges former Bayern Munich player Ali Karimi over support for protests
https://arab.news/9xcmc
Iran charges former Bayern Munich player Ali Karimi over support for protests
- This comes after people took to the country’s streets in recent weeks
- The young woman’s death sparked a wave of protests across Iran despite the government warning of harsh crackdowns
The UN says Al-Hol camp population has dropped sharply as Syria moves to relocate remaining families
The UN says Al-Hol camp population has dropped sharply as Syria moves to relocate remaining families
- Forces of Syria’s central government captured the Al-Hol camp on Jan. 21 during a weekslong offensive against the SDF, which had been running the camp near the border with Iraq for a decade
DAMASCUS: The UN refugee agency said Sunday that a large number of residents of a camp housing family members of suspected Daesh group militants have left and the Syrian government plans to relocate those who remain.
Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, UNHCR’s representative in Syria, said in a statement that the agency “has observed a significant decrease in the number of residents in Al-Hol camp in recent weeks.”
“Syrian authorities have informed UNHCR of their plan to relocate the remaining families to Akhtarin camp in Aleppo Governorate (province) and have requested UNHCR’s support to assist the population in the new camp, which we stand ready to provide,” he said.
He added that UNHCR “will continue to support the return and reintegration of Syrians who have departed Al-Hol, as well as those who remain.”
The statement did not say how residents had left the camp or how many remain. Many families are believed to have escaped either during the chaos when government forces captured the camp from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces last month or afterward.
There was no immediate statement from the Syrian government and a government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
At its peak after the defeat of IS in Syria in 2019, around 73,000 people were living at Al-Hol. Since then, the number has declined with some countries repatriating their citizens. The camp’s residents are mostly children and women, including many wives or widows of IS members.
The camp’s residents are not technically prisoners and most have not been accused of crimes, but they have been held in de facto detention at the heavily guarded facility.
Forces of Syria’s central government captured the Al-Hol camp on Jan. 21 during a weekslong offensive against the SDF, which had been running the camp near the border with Iraq for a decade. A ceasefire deal has since ended the fighting.
Separately, thousands of accused IS militants who were held in detention centers in northeastern Syria have been transferred to Iraq to stand trial under an agreement with the US
The US military said Friday that it had completed the transfer of more than 5,700 adult male IS suspects from detention facilities in Syria to Iraqi custody.
Iraq’s National Center for International Judicial Cooperation said a total of 5,704 suspects from 61 countries who were affiliated with IS — most of them Syrian and Iraqi — were transferred from prisons in Syria. They are now being interrogated in Iraq.
