Ali Daei Summoned for Collecting Public Donations

Ali Daei, the world's top football scorer, has been summoned to court for collecting public donations for the victims of the Kermanshah earthquake. The former head coach of the Iranian national football team shared a picture of the court summons on his Instagram, stating: 'After eleven months of round-the-clock efforts to build homes for the earthquake victims in Kermanshah, the officials who should have supported me in providing better services to those in need have only caused discouragement and disruption.' Sadegh Zibakalam was also summoned to the 36th District Prosecutor's Office in Tehran on Wednesday for collecting donations for the Kermanshah earthquake. Zibakalam wrote on his Telegram channel: 'The esteemed judiciary sends the case to the police department like a criminal. I wonder if I were a flatterer of the principlists and considered one of their own, would the judiciary treat me this way?' Many prominent sports, cultural, and artistic figures took action to collect public donations after the earthquake. The judiciary or official sources have not announced whether all of them have been summoned. Daei and Zibakalam themselves published images of their summons. The former Bayern Munich striker wrote: 'The prosecutor's offices in Isfahan and Mashhad have frozen my account. Then, with minimal investigation, both official and unofficial authorities spread rumors, and most of my intellectual and financial capacity was spent on responding.' Over forty-three thousand comments supporting Daei have been posted under his Instagram post, including one from actress Parastoo Salehi, who reacted to Daei's summons by saying: 'They are wrong.' Daei, who was recently voted the best scorer in the history of the Asian Cup by the Asian Football Confederation, published a detailed account of the donations collected. He stated: 'It is unclear who the complainant is. I started and will continue to build homes with the most advanced technology and the best materials because I believe in doing things properly.' Mehdi Maleki, the sports editor of Iran newspaper, tweeted: 'Here, the accused of Seke Saman and his wife flee the country. Embezzlers multiply, but Daei is summoned for helping the people.' Alireza Dehghani, a football reporter for state television, also wrote: 'Rent-seekers and the children of the elite see Daei's charitable activities as a thorn in their side.' The former Persepolis coach, who now leads Saipa, stated: 'The cash donations, along with their interest, amounted to 11 billion and 123 million tomans in Bank Tejarat, Branch of Farmanieh, and every rial spent has been documented in two binders with all records provided.' Daei said he did not want to raise this issue but had repeatedly used his personal funds to expedite construction work, and today he sees the result as a summons. However, the people are the highest court and the best judges. Ali Daei also published a letter to the head of the police operations center, which stated: 'Such behavior will prevent anyone from stepping up to help the people in future similar situations and will not tolerate the consequences of entering the relief field.'