TEHRAN: Iran has executed a second wrestler on a murder charge, a local media outlet reported, months after the execution of champion wrestler Navid Afkari sparked an international outcry.
Mehdi Ali Hosseini, 30, was executed in a prison in the city of Dezful in the southwestern Khuzestan province yesterday, Al Asre Jonoob, which covers news in the oil-rich province, first reported.
Hosseini was arrested in 2015 and charged with murder.
Condemnation
Earlier this month, Hosseini’s execution was postponed thanks to a campaign to save his life which several Iranian professional wrestlers, including six-time World Champion Hamid Sourian, took part in.
Iran executed 27-year-old champion wrestler Navid Afkari in September, drawing widespread condemnation, including from the US and the EU.
Iran accused Afkari of killing a security guard during anti-government protests in 2018 – a charge the executed wrestler and his family rejected. They maintained he was tortured into making false confessions.
As with Afkari’s execution, Hosseini’s execution has sparked an outcry from Iranians on social media, with some regime critics calling on the International Olympic Committee to ban Iran.
- Millions of Iranians have been pushed into extreme poverty over the past year, adding to pressure on the regime in an Iranian election year to resume talks on the nuclear deal with new US president Joe Biden, reports the Financial Times.
“More than 60 per cent of Iranian society live in relative poverty because the workers’ wages are enough for about a third of their costs of living,” said Faramarz Tofighi, head of the wages committee of the Islamic Labour Council, an industrial relations group.
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