Cristiano Ronaldo sentenced to receive 99 lashes in Iran

Soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo could become the next victim of Islamic fundamentalism in Iran. The Portuguese star is the subject of persecution in the Islamic Republic following a game between Al-Nassr, the Saudi Arabian team he plays for, and the Iranian team Persepolis in the Asian Champions League.

According reports by local Iranian outlets such as Rouydad24 and Sharq Emroz, Ronaldo faces this punishment after being accused of adultery by a group of Iranian prosecutors. The alleged crime: hugging a single woman. The punishment would be to receive 99 lashes.

The alleged incident happened in September, when Cristiano Ronaldo traveled to Iran to play the match against Persepolis, which Al-Nassr won 2-0. While there, he went to visit a fan of his, Iranian painter Fatima Hamami.

Hamami, who suffers from a disability, wanted to give her idol a portrait she had painted of him. Ronaldo accepted the gift and hugged the painter in a gesture that has earned him condemnation from the Islamic regime. In Iran, it is forbidden to touch an unmarried woman. This is what yielded the penalty announced by the press and the Iranian newspapers, which the Portuguese footballer should serve the next time he sets foot in Iran.