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Iran Executes Navid Afkari
If you want to murder someone with an illegitimate excuse seemingly untouchable, then a decent manner in which to do so is the excuse of the State, as such, whether secular-authoritarian or theocratic.
Navid Afkari was executed. Afkari was a wrestler accused of murder who had “international appeals for him to be spared” (BBC). In the midst of anti-government protests in 2018, he was accused of killing a security guard. Amnesty International considered the ‘secret’ execution a “travesty of justice.”
Amnesty International reported, “Before his secret execution Navid Afkari, 27, was subjected to a shocking catalogue of human rights violations and crimes, including enforced disappearance; torture and other ill-treatment, leading to forced “confessions”; and denial of access to a lawyer and other fair trial guarantees.”
Afkari was searching for an opportunity to have a “fair trial” to “prove his innocence,” according to Diana Eltahawy. Afkari argued that he was tortured into making a confession. Afkari said, “If I am executed, I want you to know that an innocent person, even though he tried and fought with all his strength to be heard, was executed.”
He was hung in the southern city of Shiraz. Afkari was prevented from seeing family before death. The World Players Association (WPA), which represents 85,000 athletes around the globe, called for a stop to the execution, deeming Afkari “unjustly targeted.” The WPA argues the targeting was based…
