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Wrestler Afkari buried in the night - athletes demand consequences

2020-09-13T09:44:29.171Z


Navid Afkari was buried under strict security precautions. Apparently his family was not allowed to say goodbye. Athlete representatives are again pushing for sanctions in world sport.


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Protests in front of the Iranian embassy in Berlin

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ALEXANDER BECHER / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock

After his execution, the Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari was buried under tight security on Sunday night.

The human rights activist Mehdi Mahmoudian and friend of the Afkaris family wrote on Twitter.

According to Mahmoudian, Afkari was buried in a village in the southern Iranian province of Fars.

His family was not allowed to attend the funeral.

The 27-year-old Afkari was executed on Saturday despite international protests.

According to the Iranian judiciary, Afkari had killed a security officer during a demonstration in Shiraz in 2018.

It was said that he had confessed.

The athlete, his family and human rights organizations alleged that the confession was obtained through torture.

Even a wave of solidarity from home and abroad could not induce Iran to rethink.

The international sports association "Global Athlete" has now called for world sport sanctions for Iran.

The International Olympic Committee and the World Wrestling Federation would have to ban Iran from the international sports stage because of this "heinous execution", it said in a statement.

"It's time for actions instead of words," wrote CEO Rob Koehler.

The former deputy director of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) also made the sponsors of world sport responsible.

They would have to hold the IOC accountable for their investments, "otherwise they are complicit".

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sak / dpa

Source: spiegel

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