Iran announced on Saturday, September 12, that it had executed young wrestler Navid Afkari, sentenced to death for the murder of an official during“Riots” in 2018, according to the Iranian state television website. The sentence of qesas (the law of retaliation) was executed Saturday morning in a prison in Shiraz, in southern Iran, the attorney general of Fars province, Kazem Mousavi, told state television. Capital punishment has been applied “In the face of the insistence of the victim’s family”, he added.
But according to Mr. Afkari’s lawyer, Hassan Younesi, a meeting with the victim’s family was to take place on Sunday to ” ask for forgiveness “ and thus avoid the application of the death penalty. “Were you in such a hurry that you refused Navid his right to a last visit”, rebelled Mr. Younesi on Twitter.
Mr. Afkari, 27, was convicted of” voluntary homicide ” on an official of the public water authority in Shiraz, August 2, 2018. Like several other localities in the country, the city was then the scene of demonstrations hostile to the regime and denouncing the economic and social situation. According to conservative Iranian media, several religious buildings had been attacked during the protests.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said, on Saturday, “Shocked” by the execution of the wrestler. “It is deeply regrettable that the appeals of athletes around the world, and all the work behind the scenes of the IOC, with the Iranian National Olympic Committee, the International Wrestling Federation and the Iranian Wrestling Federation, have not achieved their goal”, regretted the body based in Lausanne, whose “Thoughts are with family and friends” of the athlete.
“Victim of the deficient Iranian judicial system”
The human rights organization Amnesty International was alarmed on Friday by the“Imminent secret execution” Mr. Afkari, claiming that he and his two brothers, sentenced to heavy prison terms in the same case, were the “Last victims of the deficient Iranian judicial system”.
The case of Navid Afkari has been the subject of an online mobilization in recent weeks, especially around the hashtag “Do not run our Navid” on social networks, following the publication of information claiming that the young man was convicted on the basis of a confession extracted under torture. Last week, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, asked the Iranian authorities of“Spare the life of this young man”.
With at least 251 executions in 2019, Iran is, after China, the country that uses the death penalty the most, according to the latest global report on the death penalty published by Amnesty International. This number has nevertheless “Halved” compared to 2018, according to the NGO.
