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Iranian Champion Wrestler Navid Afkari, Executed

Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari was executed on Saturday after being convicted of stabbing a security guard to death during anti-government protests in 2018, state media said, in a case that has sparked an international outcry.

Afkari was executed "this morning after legal procedures were carried out at the insistence of the parents and the family of the victim," the media quoted the head of the justice department in southern Fars province, Kazem Mousavi, as saying.

Afkari was convicted of killing Hassan Turkman, a water company security guard, and other charges. Iran's Supreme Court rejected a review of the case in late August.

Afkari, a 27-year-old Greco-Roman wrestler, had said he was tortured into making a false confession, according to his family and activists, and his attorney says there is no proof of his guilt. Iran's judiciary has denied Afkari's claims.

Afkari's attorney accused authorities of denying his client a family visit before the execution, as required by law.

"Were you in so much hurry to execute the sentence that you also deprived Navid of a last meeting?," Hassan Younesi said on Twitter.

There was no immediate reaction by Iranian officials to the attorney's accusation. (JPost / VFI News)

He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord. —Proverbs 17:15

“God, we ask that you bring justice to those who desperately need it.”