Navid Afkari, the Iranian wrestler was executed secretly on Saturday. He was charged of murdering a security guard in 2018, during anti government protests.
Kazem Mousavi, Head of Justice department, Southern Fars said: “this morning after legal procedures were carried out at the insistence of the parents and the family of the victim.”
Even when the case ushered global outcry, the 27 year old wrestler was executed for killing Hassan Turkman. Not only was Aksari convicted of murdering the water company security guard, he had other charges attached regarding the protests.
The Greko Roman wrestler stated that he was forced to make false confessions by his family and activists, his attorney backs him by saying there is no proof. The attorney further added that he was denied meeting his family before execution.
Hassan Yonesi, Navid’s lawyer claimed: “Were you in so much hurry to execute the sentence that you also deprived Navid of a last meeting?”
Afkari’s claims were denied by the Iranian judiciary.
Navid and his brothers worked as construction workers in Shiraz, 680 kms South of the capital Tehran.
Vahid Afkari, 54 and Habib Afkari, 27, Navid’s brothers, were also sent to prison as ordered by the Provincial court in Shiraz.
Navid Afkari’s execution condemned globally:
Mike Pompeo, the US secretary condemned the execution. He tweeted: “The Iranian regime’s execution of Navid Afkari is a vicious and cruel act. We condemn it in the strongest terms. It is an outrageous assault on human dignity, even by the despicable standards of this regime. The voices of the Iranian people will not be silenced.”
Diana Elthahawy claims the execution as a serious “travesty of justice.” She empathizes with the 27 year old and claims he was I’ll treated and fair trials were not conducted.
According to her: “This young man desperately sought help in court to receive a fair trial and prove his innocence. Leaked voice recordings of him in court expose how his pleas for judges to investigate his torture complaints and bring another detainee who had witnessed his torture to testify were unlawfully and cruelly ignored.”
A voice recording was played right before Navid Afkari’s execution. The recording seemed like a confession he made: “If I am executed, I want you to know that an innocent person, even though he tried and fought with all his strength to be heard, was executed.”
Diana Elthahawy pleas UN human rights body and other international human rights bodies to intervene and look into the matter. She highly condemns the Iranian judiciary. She called his execution, “ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.”
