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Iran said it executed a fighter on Saturday for murdering a man during a wave of anti-government protests in 2018, drawing widespread condemnation and stirring up the International Olympic Committee.
Navid Afkari, 27, was executed in a prison in the southern city of Shiraz, provincial attorney general Kazem Mousavi said on the state television website.
Afkari was convicted of “voluntary manslaughter” for stabbing Hossein Torkman, an employee of the water department, to death on August 2, 2018, the judiciary said.
Shiraz and several other urban centers across Iran had been the scene that day of protests and demonstrations against the government over economic and social difficulties.
The International Olympic Committee said it was “shocked” by the execution and that it was “deeply upsetting” that pleas from athletes around the world and international bodies had failed to stop it.
“Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Navid Afkari,” the IOC said in a statement.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced a “cruel” execution.
“We condemn it in the strongest terms. It is a heinous attack on human dignity, even by the despicable standards of this regime. The voices of the Iranian people will not be silenced,” Pompeo tweeted.
London-based human rights group Amnesty International said the “secret execution” was a “horrible travesty of justice in need of immediate international action.”
Reports published abroad say Afkari was convicted on the basis of confessions broadcast on television after being extracted under torture, prompting online campaigns for his release.
Amnesty has repeatedly called on Iran to stop broadcasting videos of “confessions” from suspects, saying they “violate the rights of the accused.”
The Mizan Online news agency of the judiciary denied the allegations.
According to Amnesty, Afkari’s two brothers, Vahid and Habib, are still in the same prison where he had been detained.
The death sentence was carried out “at the insistence of the victim’s family,” said Mousavi, the attorney general for Fars province.
Afkari’s lawyer, Hassan Younessi, tweeted that several people in Shiraz were meeting the slain worker’s family on Sunday to apologize.
He also said that according to Iranian criminal law, “the convict has the right to reunite with his family before execution.”
“Were you in such a hurry to serve your sentence that you deprived Navid of his last visit?”
US President Donald Trump had advocated for Afkari’s life earlier this month, saying that “his only act was an anti-government demonstration in the streets.”
“To the leaders of Iran, I would greatly appreciate it if you would spare the life of this young man and not execute him. Thank you!” he said on Twitter.
Trump has maintained an aggressive “maximum pressure” approach toward America’s enemy Iran since he took office, enacting crippling economic sanctions after withdrawing from a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran and world powers in 2018.
A global union representing 85,000 athletes had also asked Iran to spare the fighter’s life.
In a statement posted on its website Tuesday, World Players United called on the International Olympic Committee to use its influence to help Afkari.
Sweden joined in the condemnation.
“Shocked by reports of the execution of Iranian fighter Navid Afkari,” his Foreign Minister Ann Linde tweeted.
Campaign group Global Athlete said the execution was “egregious” and called for sanctions to prevent Iran from competing in international sport.
A small group of flag-waving protesters stood in front of Iran’s embassy in London on Saturday to condemn the execution, holding posters showing the blacked-out faces of Iran’s leader and supreme president.
Wrestling is very popular in Iran, one of the world’s superpowers in the sport.
The Persian hashtag #Navid_Afkari was also being used widely on Twitter to protest the execution.
Iranian human rights activist Emaddein Baghi tweeted that Afkari’s execution was a “great sin” as the judiciary should have tried to persuade the family of the murdered man to forgive the fighter.
Lawyer Babak Paknia also criticized the judiciary for its “rush” to carry out the sentence.
“Even if a murder had actually occurred, isn’t it the procedure of the court system to do everything possible to receive forgiveness?” tweeted.
Paknia represents three men sentenced to death for links to similar protests in November, but the trio’s execution was halted due to a request to the Supreme Court to review the verdict.
Amnesty said Iran executed at least 251 people last year, the second highest number in the world after China.
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