At World Cup, Iran team silent during national anthem amid anti-govt anti-Hijab protests

The FIFA World Cup 2022 continues to gain traction for issues that are not pertaining to football as in the England vs Iran game, the players of the latter nation refused to sing their national anthem. Their refusal comes amid the backdrop of widespread protests going on in their country pertaining to hijab laws and other rules that marginalise women.

Iran has been rocked by nationwide protests against hijab laws

Iran has been rocked by nationwide protests against hijab laws ever since 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in custody for reportedly wearing her headscarf 'inappropriately'. With the protests going on in the country for the past two months, Iran football team captain Ehsan Hajsafi also commented on the same during a news conference.

"My condolences to all the mourning families in Iran … we stand with them and share their pain … we must accept that conditions in our country are not right and our people are not happy. My people are sad and our presence here does not mean that we cannot be a voice for them or should not respect them,” he said.

“We owe our lives to our people and we are here to work hard, fight, show our best performance and score goals, and present them to the bereaved Iranian people … I hope that things will improve and everyone will be happy," explained Hajsafi.