Iran hangs famous wrestler for killing security guard

 

Famous Iranian wrestler Naveed Afkari was hanged for killing a security guard with a knife during anti-government protests in 2018.

According to Reuters, Iranian state media said that wrestler Naveed Afkari was hanged on Saturday morning.

"Naveed Afkari was hanged this morning at the insistence of the victim's family after completing legal proceedings," said Kazim Mousavi, head of the Justice Department in Iran's Fars province.

Naveed Afkari was convicted of killing security official Hassan Turkman and other charges, and Iran's Supreme Court rejected his appeal late last month.

Read more: Iran's anti-government wrestling champion has been sentenced to death

According to Wrestler's family and human rights activists, he said in a statement that he was tortured to admit to lying.

His lawyer said there was not a single piece of evidence against Naveed Afkari.

He said authorities did not allow the wrestler's family to meet before the execution, which was their legal right.

Addressing the authorities, lawyer Hassan Younesi said in a statement on Twitter, "Were you in a hurry to hang Naveed that you deprived him of his last meeting?"

There was no immediate response from Iranian authorities to the allegations made by Naveed Afkari's lawyer.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said that the execution of Naveed Afkari was very sad news.

The statement said IOC President Thomas Beach had written to the Iranian leadership out of respect for Iran's sovereignty.

Earlier, an organization representing more than 85,000 athletes from around the world said in a statement on Tuesday that Iran would be suspended if Naveed Afkari was hanged.

When Afkari was sentenced to death by an Iranian court, human rights groups around the world, including US President Donald Trump, called for a halt to the execution.

It is to be noted that there were violent protests in Iran against the economic failure of the government and at the same time there was an incident of killing of a security guard.

Regarding the protesters, the government and religious leaders said they were tools of external forces, including the United States and Israel.

According to the report, Iranian state television also aired a video statement of Naveed Afkari last week, in which he was confessing to the crime.

State TV also ran a written statement from Naveed Afkari, but a report on social media quoted him as saying that he had been forced to sign papers.