Iranian footballers who wore green armbands to support protesters forced to retire by hardline regime

A follow-up on the guys from this video.

Four footballers who wore green armbands in solidarity with Iranian protesters have been forced to retire from the national team.

Their gesture in a recent World Cup match in Seoul attracted worldwide attention last week.

But the authorities have now taken revenge revenge by imposing life bans on Ali Karimi, 31, Mehdi Mahdavikia, 32, Hosein Ka’abi, 24 and Vahid Hashemian, 32. According to the paper, they have been ‘retired’ from the sport.

They were among six players who took to the field wearing wristbands in the colour of the defeated opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, which has been adopted by demonstrators who believe the 12 June election was stolen.

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.