Spaniard missing in Iran – he wanted to walk to the manager of the World Cup in Qatar, Trump in it? What’s happening right now at Musk and Twitter – in 4 compact dots

A Spanish football fan who walked from his home country to the World Cup in Qatar is said to have disappeared in Iran.

Santiago Sánchez Cogedor last posted on Instagram on Oct. 1 from northern Iraq on the Iranian border. “I’m still a mountain away from Iran”he posted at the time. He has since disappeared.

For more than 40 days, crowds of people have taken to the streets in Iran to protest against the politico-clerical leadership. The reason was the death of 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini in police custody. More than 10,000 people have been arrested in connection with protests, according to human rights activists.

A spokeswoman for the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Madrid told the DPA news agency on Friday that it is not known where the Spaniard was. The Spanish embassy in Tehran is in contact with the Iranian authorities and relatives in Spain. In doing so, she denied media reports that her home had confirmed the 40-year-old’s arrest in Iran.

However, the Europa Press news agency and other Spanish media, citing the missing man’s mother, reported that the family had been told by the Spanish Foreign Ministry that her son was in prison in Iran. He is doing well and the Spanish ambassador in Tehran wants to visit him in prison. The embassy is trying to get her out.

Sánchez left Madrid for Qatar more than nine months ago. When he disappeared, he had traveled about 4,000 miles through 15 countries. The World Cup kicks off on November 20.

(yam/sda/dpa)