In the international wrestling scene, the protest against the death sentence for the Iranian mat fighter Navid Afkari is growing louder. The three-time world champion Frank Stäbler said on Instagram on Monday: “The wrestling family and the global sports community are behind him. We fight together to get justice for Navid and his family. “
According to the Iranian judiciary, the 27-year-old, who was considered a talent, killed a security officer at a demonstration in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz in 2018. It was said that he had confessed. The athlete, his family and human rights organizations counter that the confession was obtained through torture.
“Fixed Navid Afkari”
“Save Navid Afkari,” said Stäbler in the contribution. The German ex-world champion Aline Rotter-Focken had previously written on social media: “The wrestling community has a responsibility to get involved. Please save Navid. “
The confession and recordings of the alleged crime were shown on Iranian state television and on the Aparat video portal. Afkari was then sentenced to death. His two brothers, who had taken part with him in the protests against the Islamic regime, received long prison terms. The judgment has been upheld by the country’s highest court and is therefore final. But it is not supposed to be enforced for six years.
Numerous Iranians, including renowned wrestlers, are calling for a revision of the judgment on social media. Last week, America’s President Donald Trump also tweeted the Iranian leadership not to execute Afkari. Tehran rejects the criticism. Foreign countries should not canonize a murderer for political reasons, should not make a perpetrator a victim and should not ignore the rights of the real victim and his family, the Iranian judiciary said, according to the news portal Tabnak.
.
