DISPUTED CHARGES

Iran Executes 27-Year-Old Dissident Wrestler Despite International Outcry

Navid Afkari was accused of murdering a utility worker at an anti-government protest but Iran’s critics say the charges were fabricated.

Iran executed a 27-year-old wrestler Saturday following an international outcry against what advocates claim were trumped-up charges of murder. Navid Afkari, an amateur wrestler, participated in anti-government protests in his hometown of Shiraz in 2018 where a utility worker was stabbed to death. Shortly after, Iranian police raided his family’s home and arrested him on murder charges. His two brothers were also detained and sentenced to decades in prison. Audio smuggled from Afkari’s prison cell recorded him saying he had been tortured until he falsely confessed. Critics of the Iranian regime and the international sports community, including the governing body of the Olympics, alleged the government used Afkari as a symbol to suppress unrest and appealed to the country’s leader for clemency. Afkari’s lawyers said his family were not allowed a final visit, as is required under Iranian law, and were only informed of the execution after the fact. The local judicial officer in charge of the proceedings told state media the trial had been “carried out after due judicial process and at the insistence of the family of the murdered victim.”