27-year-old wrestler Navid Afkari has been executed in Iran. He was convicted of stabbing to death a security officer during protests in 2018. There was worldwide action against his death sentence.
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International actions did not prevent Navid Afkari from being executed in Fars province on Saturday morning. Iranian state media released the news. Afkari was arrested along with his brother in September 2018 and convicted of stabbing to death a security officer during anti-government protests in the city of Shiraz.
Afkari filed a complaint a year after his arrest for confessing under pressure of torture. “There is no evidence against me,” he said at the time. Ten days ago, US President Donald Trump tweeted about his case, after which Iranian state media re-aired his retracted confession. The regime denies the torture.
The International Olympic Committee is shocked by the wrestler’s execution. “This is very sad news,” said a statement. “It is particularly disturbing that, despite pleas from athletes around the world and our work behind the scenes, along with Iran’s National Olympic Committee, the World Wrestling Federation and the Iranian Wrestling Federation, we could not prevent this.”
Afkari never took part in the Olympic Games himself, but the Olympic Committee stands up for the rights of athletes of all levels. As a wrestler he had built a reputation especially in his town of Shiraz. The sport is particularly popular in Iran, which is why its fate strikes an extra sensitive chord with his fellow countrymen.
After the news got out, protests took place in Berlin, London, and Brussels at the Iranian embassies.
251 people were executed in Iran last year. Only in China are more people killed by the regime, Amnesty International calculated.
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