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September 13, 07:58
Navid Afkari (Photo: RFE / RL)
On Saturday, September 12, the 27-year-old fighter Navid Afkari was executed in Iran and sentenced to two death sentences despite an international solidarity campaign.
Navid Afkari is the Iranian wrestling champion. According to the official version of the Iranian authorities, Afkari killed the security official during protests against the country’s economic and political situation in 2018, recalls DW. He confessed to the crime, although, as the SID news agency points out, citing human rights organizations, this confession was obtained after torture.
International Olympic Committee (COI) said he was amazed “Sad news “about the athlete’s execution. Earlier, IOC President Thomas Bach wrote letters to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, asking for clemency for Navid Afkari, 27.
German athletes and the German Olympic Sports Confederation have joined the campaign to save him. They asked the Iranian judiciary to suspend the execution of the death penalty.
US President Donald Trump also appealed to the Iranian authorities on this matter. “[Обращаюсь] To the leaders of Iran: I would be very grateful if you would save the life of this young man and not execute him. Thank you! “- he wrote on the social network Twitter.
However, the athlete was executed anyway. “by the insistence of the victim’s family, ”although lawyer Navid Afkari said that a meeting was scheduled for September 13 with the relatives of the murdered security officer, who, according to him, wanted to apologize for the young man.
Furthermore, by law, a convicted person has the right to see his family before being executed. However, the Iranian authorities did not allow the 27-year-old athlete to exercise his legal right.
The last time protests broke out in Iran in November last year over the rise in fuel prices and the rationing of the sale of fuel to the population at a reduced price. At first, the protests covered several cities, but then the protests developed across the country.
During the protests, protesters set fire to gas stations, attacked police stations and destroyed shops. According to unconfirmed reports, more than a thousand people were detained during the protests. At the same time, due to the internet blockage in the country, there was very little evidence of photos and videos of protests. The exact number of victims is also unknown: according to media reports, between 250 and 1,000 people were killed by security agents.
