Brazilian women’s team arrives in Australia with support for protests in Iran

A Brazilian women’s team arrived in Brisbane, Australia, last Tuesday (5), with messages of support for the popular protests that have been taking place in Iran.

The plane that transported the Brazilian team brought the images of Mahsa Amini and Amir Nasr-Azadani: the former died after being taken into custody by the Iranian “moral police” in September last year, triggering widespread protests in the Arab country.

Azadani, a former football player, was arrested during these protests and sentenced to 26 years in prison — he was initially sentenced to death.

“No woman should be forced to cover her head” and “No man should be hanged for saying that” were the phrases that accompanied the images of the Brazilian plane.

Brazil’s position comes after Fifa confirmed that players are prohibited from wearing captain’s armbands with rainbow colors in support of the LGBTQIA+ community, at risk of a series of punishments by the entity.

The action of the Brazilian team had repercussions around the world, with The Guardian newspaper, one of the main ones in England, stating that the selection arrived for the tournament “with a strong declaration in favor of human rights”.

Understand the protests in Iran

Protests in Iran began in September 2022, amid intense repression by local security forces. The demonstrations have been seen as the most serious challenge to Iranian authorities in decades.

The protests began just after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman arrested by the “morality police” in the capital Tehran on September 13, for allegedly violating the country’s strict rules that require women to cover their heads with a hijab, a type of Islamic veil.

Officially, the police say that Amini suffered a heart attack. There are reports, however, that before being arrested she was beaten in the head with a club. Despite this, the authorities even released a video in which Amini allegedly fainted at the police station, which only angered the Iranians even more.

According to Iran Huma Rights, a group based in Norway, at least 200 people, including 23 children, have been killed by security forces since the protests began. Iran’s most powerful figure is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader since 1989.