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By Pooya Stone
At dawn on Saturday, September 12, 2020, the Iranian authorities executed Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old wrestling champion, an innocent individual and a protester. In September 2018, security forces detained Navid for participating in the August 2018 protests. Interrogators severely tortured him to make him confess what he had never committed.
“I realized that they were only looking for a neck to support the rope,” said the Iranian wrestling champion. #NavidAfkari, a few days before his execution.
The people of Iran and the world #Never forget!#RIPNavid🌹pic.twitter.com/TXmfchjqEy– Iran Focus (@Iran_Focus) September 12, 2020
The Iranian authorities executed Navid Afkari despite an international campaign to spare his life. Last week, many athletes inside and outside Iran constantly demanded that the Iranian government suspend the unjust sentence against them.
On September 1, in an initiative of a group of Iranian athletes and sports champions, members of the Iranian opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), along with 48 Iranian sports champions, wrote to the UN Secretary-General, the International Olympic Committee. President, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and President of the Human Rights Council, calling for your urgent intervention to stop the execution of Afkari.
Mr. Moslem Eskandar Filabi, national hero in Iran and winner of 17 national and international wrestling competitions, and the Chairman of the NCRI Athletics Committee, Dr. Mohammad Ghorbani, gold medalist at the 1971 World Wrestling Championships , and Messrs. Bahram Mavaddat, Asghar Adibi, Hassan Nayeb Agha and Abbas Novin Rouzegar, members of the Iranian national soccer team and members of the NCRI, were among the signatories.
In addition, two wrestling champions Mohammad Reza Geraei and Mohammad Ali Geraei announced their support for Navid Afkari and posted a picture of this death row political prisoner on their Instagram pages.
Additionally, many international figures and athletes, including United States President Donald Trump, Senator Marco Rubio, State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus, Amnesty International, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White, Director World Players Association Executive Brendan Schwab, United States National Wrestling Champion and founder of the non-profit organization Wrestler Like a Girl Sally Roberts, and many others.
However, the Iranian government rejected international appeals and even rejected a new trial in the Navid Afkari case. Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), severely condemned this crime. “The religious fascism that governs Iran will not survive a day without executions, torture and domestic repression. By shedding the blood of young people like Navid Afkari, the mullahs seek to maintain their grip on power in the face of protests in Iran, ”he tweeted.
The prevailing religious fascism #Iran he will not survive a day without executions, torture and domestic repression. Spilling the blood of young as #NavidAfkari The mullahs seek to maintain their power in the face of #IranProtests.
– Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) September 12, 2020
Mrs. Rajavi also called on the United Nations Security Council, the UN Human Rights Council and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, to take practical and effective measures against the Iranian regime by the execution of Navid Afkari and 120,000 political prisoners.
The UNSC, its member states, the @UNHumanRights, the UN High Commissioner for #Human rights, the EU and all international human rights authorities should take practical and effective measures against the regime in #Iran for the execution of #NavidAfkari & 120,000 political prisoners. pic.twitter.com/wCBlMOPSl9
– Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) September 12, 2020
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