Record-breaking footballer’s family ‘stopped from leaving Iran’ after criticism

Ali Daei in 2009 (Hasan Sarbakhshian/AP)

A record-breaking Iranian footballer who supported anti-government protests says his wife and daughter were prevented from leaving the country after their plane made an unannounced stop.

Ali Daei, 53, who had his passport briefly confiscated after returning home earlier this year, said his wife and daughter left the capital, Tehran, legally before their flight stopped on Kish Island in the Persian Gulf, where they were quizzed by authorities.