Months after Iran executed champion wrestler Navid Afkari and drew international outrage, the country reportedly put another wrestler to death.
Mehdi Ali Hosseini, 30, was executed on Monday, according to human rights group IHR, which cited state-run media. Hosseini, who hails from Andimeshk in the province of Khuzestan, has been imprisoned for the past five years over accusations of premeditated murder resulting from an alleged group brawl.
Mansoureh Mills, an Iran researcher for Amnesty International, told the Jerusalem Post that while little is known about the trial itself, her group “has documented the systematic violation of fair trial rights of defendants in Iran” and “forced ‘confessions’ obtained under torture and other ill-treatment without a lawyer present are consistently used as evidence by courts to issue convictions.”
Afkari, a 27-year-old athlete, was executed in September after being given two death sentences over accusations of killing a security guard during anti-regime protests in 2018. Despite the charges, Afkari maintained his innocence and claimed he was forced into a confession after being brutally tortured.
The Afkari case garnered much attention and highlighted the prolific use of the death penalty and other forms of physical punishment like lashings. Former President Donald Trump pleaded with Iran not to execute the wrestler and tweeted that Afkari’s “sole act was an anti-government demonstration on the streets.” Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the killing “a vicious and cruel act.”
UFC President Dana White also appealed to Iran to halt Afkari’s execution and posted a video where he said, “First of all, he’s a human being, number one. Number two, he’s one of us. Could be any of my fighters.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the State Department for comment about Hosseini’s reported execution but did not immediately receive a response.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran, a dissident group opposing Iran’s clerical regime, said on Tuesday that in addition to Hosseini, 33 others were put to death in Iran over the past month or so. Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the NCRI’s Washington office, told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday that President Biden’s administration should increase its focus on Iran’s executions.
“This and other executions and cruel treatment of the Iranian regime should draw widespread condemnation in Europe and the United States,” he said. “Impunity breeds more human rights violations. The Biden administration should make the issue of human rights as well as state-sponsorship of terrorism a central element of its policy on Iran.”
Iran announced earlier in January that it will roll out 1,000 additional centrifuges. The country also said it is planning to enrich uranium up to 20% in an apparent violation of the nuclear deal. The U.S. responded by increasing sanctions on the Iranian steel industry.
