[ad_1]
Despite international attention, Afkari was not forgiven by the Iranian regime.
The Reuters news agency writes that Navid Afkari (27) was executed on Saturday night. He was one of hundreds of protesters in 2018 who demonstrated against the economic situation in Iran, when he and his two brothers were arrested. He was later found guilty of a murder that resulted in two death sentences. Instead, the brothers received lengthy prison terms of 27 and 54 years, respectively.
Also read: Trump pleads: – Do not execute this man
The activists then believed that the murder charges against the 27-year-old were false and that the Iranian regime used the switch to set an example. The case subsequently received a lot of international attention, and recently the President of the United States, Donald Trump, came out with a clear message to Iranian leaders.
Also read: Freestyle wrestler will be executed for participating in a peaceful protest
“I heard that Iran has plans to execute a good and popular wrestling star, 27-year-old Navid Afkari. His only act was to participate in a street demonstration against the authorities.” They are protesting against the deterioration of the economy and the inflation of the country, “Trump wrote on Twitter last week.
“To the leaders of Iran, I would greatly appreciate it if you would save this young man’s life and not execute him. Thank you!” wrote more.
– Very worried
The Norwegian authorities also received the case and commented the following to Nettavisen earlier this week.
– We are very concerned about the human rights situation in Iran and the practice of the death penalty. We regularly raise this directly with the Iranian authorities and in multilateral forums. Norway is opposed, in principle, to the death penalty in any case. As the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran has pointed out in his latest report, the high number of executions in the country is worrying, Secretary of State for the Foreign Ministry Audun Halvorsen wrote to Nettavisen.
– false confession
The perpetrator claimed all the time that he was innocently convicted and tortured for making a false confession. However, the death penalty was approved by Iran’s Supreme Court, so Afkari was hopeful.
Also read: Iran is accused of having covered 30,000 deaths by crown
– We hope that the world community will increase its support for Afkari, because that is the only thing that can save him. I am addressing all athletes in particular: his colleague has been convicted of false accusations and has been tortured because the authorities want to sow fear in society. He needs your support, Iran’s Human Rights chief Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam told Nettavisen.
The background to the conviction
Afkari’s arrest followed an alleged stabbing in the city of Shiraz on August 2, 2018. Security guard Hassan Torkaman is said to have been stabbed and later died in hospital from injuries, according to court documents viewed by Iran Human Rights. Torkaman’s task was to identify the protesters in the city.
There must have been no witnesses present when the stabbing took place. But a local store owner suspected there were two motorcyclists who had been observed some distance from the scene that night.
Also read: TV channel: Iran wants to arrest Donald Trump
Iran’s security authorities collected mobile information from base stations near the site. Based on information obtained from the mobile databases, they went to arrest several youths who are said to have been in the area during the relevant period. The arrest took place 45 days after the stabbing.
The local store owner could not identify any of those arrested, but did not rule out that Afkari’s switch looked a bit like the motorcyclist, whom the store owner only saw from the front 45 days earlier.
[ad_2]
