Protesting soccer players banned for life.
Last Wednesday, six members of Iran’s football team wore green writstbands in apparent support of the anti-Ahmadinejad protesters. Now Iranian authorities “have taken revenge by imposing life bans” on four of those players, the Guardian reports:
Most of the players obeyed instructions to remove the armwear at half-time, but Mahdavikia wore his green captain’s armband for the entire match. The four are also said to have been banned from giving media interviews.
The fate of the other two players who wore the wristbands is unknown. None of the team members were given back their passports upon returning to Tehran after the match, which ended in a 1-1 draw – a result that ended Iran’s hopes of qualifying for next year’s tournament.
(HT: Andrew Sullivan)