Navid Afkari was executed on Saturday, September 12 despite formal complaints regarding the false evidence presented and the use of torture to extract confessions.
Despite outcries from the international community, including U.S. President Donald Trump, the International Olympic Committee, and UFC President Dana White, the Iranian regime has executed champion wrestler Navid Afkari.
Afkari, 27, was executed on Saturday, September 12 “after legal procedures were carried out at the insistence of the parents and the family of the victim”, the Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Kazem Mousavi, the head of the justice department in the southern Fars province as saying (h/t The Guardian).
Afkari was sentenced to death for his alleged role killing a security officer in Shiraz, Fars Province during summer 2018 protests in the province. However, according to Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), there is evidence that he did not commit the alleged crime and that he was tortured during interrogation into giving a false “confession.”
“The Iranian authorities are increasingly using death sentences to terrorize the population into remaining silent and end any further participation in peaceful protests,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the CHRI.
Afkari filed a complaint with the Iranian judiciary in September 2019 where he claimed that his confession was extracted through torture. Iran’s judiciary has denied the torture claims and instead opted to rebroadcast Afkari’s confession on state TV after President Trump took to social media to address Iran’s leadership.
Reports also suggest that Afkari was denied a family visit before the execution, despite it being required by law.
“Were you in so much hurry to execute the sentence that you also deprived Navid of a last meeting?” Hassan Younesi said on Twitter.
Iran executed more than 250 people in 2019 — the second highest number of death penalties in the world following China.