Alex Trelinski
FOOTBALLING icon Cristiano Ronaldo has been sentenced to 99 lashes in Iran for ‘adultery’ according to web portal Mundo Deportivo.
The former Real Madrid and Manchester United player travelled to Iran with his Saudi Arabian team Al-Nassr last month to play Tehran team Persepolis in the Asian Champions League.
During the visit, Ronaldo met Iranian painter Fatima Hamimi who gifted him two of her portraits featuring the global football superstar.
Hamimi- who is severely paralysed- was excited to meet the Portuguese international, with the 38-year-old player greeting her by giving her a hug and kissing her on the cheek.
The picture of them meeting has angered Iranian lawyers who have reported him for committing adultery with a married woman.
In Iranian law, touching a woman who isn’t your wife is the equivalent to adultery.
A television station in the country has reported that if the footballer returns to Iran, he will have to face 99 lashes after he was convicted and sentenced by a court.
It’s been suggested that if Ronaldo ‘apologises’, a judge could waive the lashings.
There’s been no comment so far from the player who appears to have no immediate plans to return to Iran.
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