More recently, he expressed sympathy for the family of a 22-year-old woman whose death while in the custody of Iran’s morality police ignited the latest protests. He also called for an end to a violent crackdown on protests in Iran’s western Kurdistan region. Iranian officials have not said whether Ghafouri’s activism was a factor in not choosing him for the national team. The latest protests mark one of the biggest challenges to Iran’s ruling clerics since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought them to power.
