A young Iranian man was sentenced to death for the murder of an official during "
riots
" in 2018, the Young Journalists' Club (YJC) reported Thursday, a state television agency, in a controversial verdict on social networks.
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Navid Afkari, presented as a former wrestler who participated in national competitions, was sentenced under "
qesas
", the "
law of retaliation
", to a so-called "
retribution
"
penalty
.
He was therefore sentenced to death for having killed himself.
According to Mizan Online, the official agency of the Judicial Authority, Mr. Afkari was found guilty of "
intentional homicide
" on an official of the public water authority in Shiraz (south), stabbed on August 2, 2018.
Confessions extracted under torture
Like several other cities in Iran, Shiraz had been the scene that day of hostile demonstrations against power and denouncing the economic and social situation of the country.
According to conservative Iranian media, several religious buildings had been attacked during the unrest.
Support for the defendant flourished on social media with the
hashtag
“
Don't run our Navid
”, especially after news reports abroad claiming that Mr. Afkari, who is believed to be 27, was sentenced on the basis of confessions extracted under torture.
Mizan denied the accusations on Wednesday.
Mr. Afkari also received on Instagram the support of Iranian and foreign figures pleading for the annulment of his sentence.
Quoting Mr. Afkari's lawyer, Me Hassan Younessi, YJC writes that the sentence imposed on the convicted person has been validated by the Supreme Court and can therefore no longer be the subject of any appeal.
According to the agency, the lawyer nevertheless lodged an appeal with the same institution with a view to obtaining a new trial, on the basis of new information transmitted to the Court.
On Twitter, Mr. Younessi denounced a judgment pronounced according to him in the absence of evidence.
Mizan assures his side that CCTV images have identified Mr. Afkari as the perpetrator of the murder with which he is accused.
With at least 251 executions in 2019, Iran is, after China, the country in the world that uses the death penalty the most, according to the latest global report on the death penalty published by Amnesty International.
The human rights organization nevertheless notes that "
the number of recorded executions
" in Iran "
has halved
" compared to 2018.
