TEHRAN – The head of the Basij Organization has thanked Ukrainian wrestler Elmar Nuraliyev for displaying his T-shirt with a picture of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In a message to Nuraliyev on Tuesday, Qolamhossein Gheibparvar said his “heroic act” was a sign of “a pious, revolutionary youth of the day”.

“Your love for guardianship, which emanates from deep religiosity, is a model for all the world’s freedom seekers and heroes,” the message read.

Gheibparvar added that he prided himself for such youth.

Nuraliyev, originally from Azerbaijan, recently garnered a national gold medal and when he was to stand on the podium to receive his medal, he appeared in a T-shirt with the picture of Ayatollah Khamenei, with a sentence in Arabic which read “I follow your order, O Khamenei.”

SP/PA