Maat for Peace Appeals to the United Nations to Condemn the Execution of the Iranian Wrestler Navid Afkari
Security forces arrested 27-year-old wrestler Navid Afkari and his two brothers during these demonstrations. Afkari was tortured and sentenced to death after being convicted of stabbing a water supply company employee in southern city of Shiraz.
WordForPeace.com Special
Okail: After China, Iran is the world’s second most prolific state executioner
Sherif Abdel Hamid: The Iranian authorities have executed the champion Navid Afkari, despite International appeal and outcries.
Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights has sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Procedures, denouncing the execution of the Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari, despite international appeals and outcries for the Iranian authorities to suspend his death sentence.
During the appeal, Maat for Peace stated that the Islamic Republic of Iran has recently witnessed a large-scale anti-establishment wave of protests all over the country, in protest against the country’s dire economic situation and widespread corruption that Iran has witnessed in recent years. With brutal crackdown and lethal force, the Iranian authorities have met such protests. Security forces used unlawful force, including live ammunition, birdshot, metal pellets, tear gas and water cannons against unarmed protesters and bystanders, killing hundreds and arresting thousands.
During these demonstrations, security forces arrested the 27-year-old wrestler, Navid Afkari, and his two brothers. Afakari was tortured and sentenced to death after being convicted of stabbing to death a water supply company employee in the southern city of Shiraz. Whereas his two brothers, Wahid and Habib, were also found guilty in the same case and sentenced to 54 and 27 years in prison. In a leaked recording smuggled out of prison that he was held in, Navid Afkari said that the confessions were extracted from him under torture. And his mother said her sons were forced to testify against each other.
Lawyer Hassan Younesi also tweeted that, contrary to Iranian news reports, there were no video clips showing the moment the security guard was killed.
He added that the footages used as evidences in the case were taken an hour before the crime was committed.
On September 12, 2020, the Iranian authorities executed Navid Afkari, after he was transferred from his prison to an unknown location, in light of the Iranian government’s complete disregard for international and UN calls to abolish death sentences and imprisonment against political detainees.
For his part, Ayman Okail, head of Maat, condemned the Iranian authorities’ execution of the champion wrestler Navid Afkari, who was denied any semblance of due process and a fair trial, as Iranian courts, especially revolutionary courts, don’t abide by international fair trial standards, and they pass sentences solely on the basis of confessions extracted under prolonged torture.
Okail added that the Iranian authorities executed at least 251 people in 2019, which ranks it second only to China worldwide in the number of people it executes every year. In 2018, Iranian authorities executed 253 people, including 6 prisoners who were convicted of their alleged crimes when they were children.
Sherif Abdel Hamid, Director of the Research and Studies Unit at Maat, also decried the Iranian authorities’ ignorance to all international outcries and appeals for suspending the death sentence against the Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari, and expresses his deep concerns over the safety of the arbitrarily detained individuals or those facing unfair trials that may pass them unduly long prison terms, flogging or execution for only participating in the protests.
