Iran has publicly executed a 19-year-old national wrestling champion and two other men convicted of murdering two police officers during anti-regime protests in January, state media reported on Friday.
Saleh Mohammadi, a rising star from Qom, was hanged alongside Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davoudi in Tehran on Thursday. All three were arrested during the crackdown on demonstrations that began on January 8 and 9.
Iranian authorities accused the trio of killing the officers with knives and swords. Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, alleged the men were tortured into confessing, denied adequate defence and rushed through “fast-tracked proceedings that bore no resemblance to a meaningful trial.”
Iranian combat athlete and human rights activist Nima Far condemned the hanging of Mohammadi as “a blatant political murder, part of the Islamic Republic’s pattern of targeting athletes to crush dissent and terrorize society.”
He called for Iran to be banned from international competitions: “Iran must be banned from international competitions until it halts executions of protesters and athletes, releases those jailed in sham trials, and ends retaliation against competitors who speak out or defect.”
The case echoes the 2020 execution of champion wrestler Navid Afkari, also convicted over protest-related deaths. US officials and international bodies had appealed for clemency for Mohammadi, but the sentences were carried out.
More than 7,000 demonstrators were reportedly killed by security forces during the January unrest, according to exile monitoring groups.
