Iran’s expulsion called if champion wrestler executed

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

A global union representing 85,000 athletes has called for Iran’s expulsion from world sport if it executed champion wrestler Navid Afkari whose case has stirred outcry.  

The 27-year-old Greco-Roman wrestler faces two death sentences after being convicted of stabbing a water security guard to death and other charges relating to anti-government protests in 2018, according to state media.

 The horrific act of executing an athlete can only be regarded as a repudiation of the humanitarian values that underpin sport,” an international wire news agency quoted the World Players Association (WPA) Director, Brendan Schwab.

“It must result in Iran forfeiting its right to be a part of sport’s universal community,” the WPA official remarked. 

Afkari has stated having been tortured into making a false confession, according to his family and activists, and his attorney maintained that there was no proof of his guilt.