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Iranian Greco-Roman wrestling champion Navid Afkari was executed on Saturday, September 12, Reuters reports, citing the head of the justice department for the southern province of Fars.
The 27-year-old athlete was convicted of killing a security guard during anti-government protests in 2018. According to his family and activists, Navid was tortured for making a false confession. His lawyer argued that there was no real evidence of his guilt, but the Iranian Supreme Court rejected the appeal.
On Tuesday, September 8, the World Union, which represents 85,000 athletes, called for Iran to be excluded from world sports if the authorities carry out the sentence.
The Afkari case sparked outrage among Iranians on social media and human rights groups. US President Donald Trump himself asked Iran not to execute the fighter.
The murder of a security guard occurred during the worst economic crisis in a decade. Iran’s rulers have blamed the street protests on what they call “thugs associated with exiles and foreign enemies” – the United States and Israel.
Iranian state television showed a video last week in which Afkari confessed to the murder. Afkari’s written confessions were shown, but in a post shared on social media, he claimed that he was forced to sign the documents.
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