Iran's national football team has decided not to sing their country's anthem before Monday's World Cup game to show open solidarity with the anti-government protesters.

Before the match against England at the Khalifa International Stadium, the players were solemn and quiet as the anthem was played, as thousands of Iranian fans in the stands shouted as the anthem played.

The protests in Iran, which lasted more than two months and began with the murder of Masha Amani in custody by the morality police, are one of the most daring challenges to Iranian clerics since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iranian state television interrupted the live broadcast of the match while the National Anthem was being played before the match.

On the eve of the match, Greek captain Ehsan Hajsafi, who was the first member of the Iranian team to speak out about the situation at home from the World Cup, said cautiously "We stand by them and support and sympathize with them".

What Happened in Iran? Who is Masha Amani?

The death of Mahsa Amini on September 16, who was hospitalized in a coma after being detained by the Irshad patrols known as the 'morality police' in Tehran on September 13, caused outrage in the country.

Protests continue in Iran after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died after being detained on the grounds that she "did not fit her clothes".

Police claim that 22-year-old Amini died of a heart attack. Her family claims that Amini's body was left with bruises as a result of her torture.

The slogans of "death to the moral police" and "women, life, freedom" were heard during the protests. As tensions rose in the streets, women took off their headscarves and burned flags.

Source: REUTERS