Wrestler executed in Iran despite campaign for mercy
IRAN executed a wrestler after authorities accused him of murder during anti-government protests, defying a global campaign for him to be spared the death penalty.
Navid Afkari was convicted of stabbing a security guard to death during anti-government protests in 2018.
But the 27-year-old Greco-Roman wrestler, a national champion, had insisted he was forced into a confession after being tortured by security services clamping down during unrest in 2018 over economic hardship and political repression.
An international union representing 85,000 athletes had called on Tuesday for Iran’s expulsion from world sport if it executed Mr Afkari. Donald Trump, the US president, also appealed to Iran, saying the wrestler’s “sole act was an anti-government demonstration on the streets”.
The International onal Olympic Committee said the he execution of Mr Afkari was “very ery sad news”, adding in a statement atement that Thomas Bach, the e IOC president, had written n to Iranian leaders asking for mercy. “It is deeply upsetting that the pleas of athletes from m around the world and all the behind-thescenes work of the IOC... did not achieve our goal,” its statement said.
State media said Mr Afkari was executed by hanging in the southern city of Shiraz. Mr Afkari’s attorney accused authorities of denying his client a family visit before the execution, as required by law. “Were you in so much hurry to execute the sentence that you also deprived Navid of a last meeting?”
‘It is deeply upsetting that the pleas of athletes from around the world did not achieve our goal’
Hassan Younesi wrote on Twitter. There was no immediate reaction by Iranian officials to the accusation. The killing of Hassan Turkman, a water company security guard, occurred during some of the worst unrest in a decade over economic hardships in Iran, whose rulers blamed the unrest on what they called “thugs” linked link to foreign foes, the United States S and Israel, and exiles.
Last week, week Iranian state television aired a video of Mr Afkari confessing to Mr Turkman’s killing. “I hit twice, t once and then again,” again Mr Afkari was shown sh saying, during a police reconstruction t of the killing.