Iran’s decision to execute wrestler whose case sparked international mobilization with unusual speed demonstrates determination to ignore growing outrage over its use of the death penalty against those arrested during protests , underline human rights defenders.
Navid Afkari, 27, an Iranian wrestler who had won several national competitions, was executed on Saturday after being sentenced to death under “qesas” (the “law of retaliation”) for the murder of an official, stabbed on August 2, 2018 during demonstrations against the government in Shiraz (south).
Like several other cities in Iran, Shiraz had been the scene that day of hostile protests against power.
The verdict against the wrestler had caused controversy. Support had flowed in Iran and abroad after news was published claiming that Navid Afkari had been convicted on the basis of confessions extracted under torture. These accusations had been rejected by the judicial authorities in Iran.
“Upsetting”
The execution of the wrestler has been widely denounced on social networks and abroad. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it was “shocked”, deeming “deeply upsetting” that demands from athletes and organizations around the world to prevent the execution were not heeded.
A panel of independent human rights experts assembled by the UN on Monday condemned the execution, calling on the international community “to react strongly”.
Using a process that has been regularly denounced outside Iran, Iranian state television Irib News broadcast on August 5 an alleged confession by Navid Afkari, where he was seen reenacting the crime scene. presumed.
Human rights defenders are outraged that the judicial system has failed to take into account statements – made by Mr. Afkari himself in a complaint – in which he claimed that his confession had been extracted from him under the law. torture, including beatings, suffocation with a plastic bag and by making him absorb alcohol through his nose.
The execution comes as the use of the death penalty in Iran – which is the second most popular country after China – has come under increasing scrutiny after the government was confronted with protests triggered by the serious economic crisis.
“Responsible persons”
Tara Sepehri Far, Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch, considers the speed with which the verdict was executed “unusual”. Mr. Afkari was sentenced to death in October 2019, and the judgment was upheld on appeal in April.
“At least part of the (Iranian) regime (…) has the feeling that taking international indignation into account would be going backwards and could make it more vulnerable,” Ms. Far explained to AFP.
“There is also a growing anti-death penalty movement inside Iran against these verdicts in protest-related cases and I think the authorities are concerned that if they do not demonstrate force they will will appear weak ”.
Iranian justice announced in July the suspension of the execution of three young men accused of vandalism and arson during the demonstrations of November 2019, in the face of the unprecedented scale of the # Do not execute campaign. But the respite was short-lived since Mostafa Salehi, another protester, arrested in the winter of 2017-2018 in Isfahan province was hanged in early August.
According to Mansoureh Mills, researcher at Amnesty International, “the general opinion among the Iranian people about the death penalty is changing” as the world “looks with horror” at its growing use against, in particular, protesters and dissidents.
Human rights defenders denounce the fact that the authorities not only ignored the accusations of confessions extracted under torture, but also accelerated the execution while according to Mr. Afkari’s lawyer, a meeting with the family of the victim should have taken place on Sunday to “ask forgiveness” and thus possibly avoid the killing.
“The authorities feared that the political cost of waiting another week would be too damaging,” said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, founder of the NGO Iran Human Rights, based in Oslo.
“Silence”
A “likely explanation”, according to Mr. Amiry-Moghaddam, is that Mr. Afkari’s state of health was so precarious due to the torture that it was decided to hang him to avoid further embarrassment on the matter. . The wrestler was also hastily buried overnight, he noted.
“This unjust judicial process, the extorting of false confessions under torture, the harassment of Navid’s family, and his hasty execution are crimes whose repercussions must be far more severe than verbal condemnations by the international community” , he hammered.
For its part, the Judicial Authority in the province of Fars (whose capital is Shiraz) indicated that “all the appropriate legal steps” had been followed, rejecting the allegations that Mr. Afkari had been tortured and criticizing the publication of “False information” on this case, in a statement quoted by the official site Mizan Online.
According to a document released by the Human Rights Activists News Agency, Navid Afkari filed a complaint on September 13, 2019 in which he claimed to have been forced under torture to make false confessions.
“Your silence equates to support for brutality,” said a voice attributed to Mr. Afkari by his support in a sound recording that went viral after his execution. “I have all kinds of documents to prove my innocence. If I am executed, people should know that in the 21st century Iran still executes innocent people ”.