December 13, 2022
Professional footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani is reportedly facing execution in Iran for "campaigning for women's rights and basic freedom in his country".
FifPro, the international players union, said it was "shocked and sickened" at the reports and called for the punishment to be revoked.
There have been widespread anti-government protests in Iran sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in custody in September having been detained for allegedly failing to follow the country's Islamic dress code.
A message posted by the official Twitter account of FifPro on Monday said:
Two former Iran national team footballers who were arrested on charges relating to the countrywide protests were released from custody last month on bail. Right-back Voria Ghafouri, who was arrested for "tarnishing the reputation of the national team and spreading propaganda against the state”, and former goalkeeper Parviz Boroumand were both detained for attending protest rallies in Tehran.
Their release came just hours before the national team’s final World Cup match against the United States in Qatar, which was deemed a move to try and ease tensions and placate growing anger that had been highlighted by protests at the global football tournament.
Prior to the opening 6-2 defeat to England on Nov 21, the Iran team stood silent when the national anthem was played, something that was interpreted as a show of support for the anti-government protests in their country.
Nasr-Azadani played for Persian Gulf Pro League side Tractor between 2016 and 2018, after a short season-long spell with Rah Ahan in 2015-16. The 26-year-old defender has not played professionally since his last appearance in November 2017.
The Mizan news agency reported on Monday that a second man had been publicly executed in the last week.
Majid Reza Rahnavard, who according to state media had been sentenced to execution after being convicted of killing two members of the Iranian security forces, was hanged in the city of Mashhad. The report added that “he was sentenced to death for 'waging war against God' after stabbing to death two members of the security forces”.
The United States State Department condemned Iran for Rahnavard’s execution.
State department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday: “We denounce this draconian treatment in the strongest terms. These harsh sentences and now the first public execution... are meant to intimidate Iran's people. They're meant to suppress dissent.”
Amnesty International has said Iranian authorities are seeking the death penalty for at least 21 people in what it called “sham trials designed to intimidate those participating in the popular uprising that has rocked Iran”.
Rahnavard’s execution came days after Mohsen Shekari, a man who had been sentenced to death for injuring a security guard with a knife and blocking a street in Tehran, was also hanged in public.
Iran soccer player sentenced to death by hanging
December 12, 2022
The Iranian regime is taking a hard line over the protests and is desperate to punish those who have campaigned for women’s rights and freedom in the nation. The most recent of these is 26-year-old former soccer player, Amir Nasr-Azadani, who has been sentenced to be hanged.
According to the ‘Mizan’ news agency, the footballer is to suffer the same fate as wrestler Majid Reza Rahnavard, who was publicly executed for participating in the protests and leading the marches in memory of Mahsa Amini. According to the Iranian regime, he was responsible for “creating terror”. After being arrested for “his war against God” he was publicly hanged. Images of his lifeless body hanging from the gallows circulated on social media.
After learning of the cruel punishment that awaits Azdani, FIFPRO, which represents professional soccer players, spoke out on social networks and asked that the punishment be revoked immediately.
“FIFPRO is shocked and sickened by reports that professional footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani faces execution in Iran after campaigning for women’s rights and basic freedom in his country. We stand in solidarity with Amir and call for the immediate removal of his punishment.” the organisation posted on social media.
Ali Daei, one of the most famous stars in the history of the Iran national soccer team, has also been punished, with the government closing a jewellery store and a restaurant he owned for supporting the protests.
Iran hangs second anti-regime protester in less than a week
December 12, 2022
Iran publicly executed Majidreza Rahnavard on Monday, marking the second execution it has carried out in less than a week in connection with anti-regime protests that have engulfed the nation since September.
The judiciary's Mizan news organization reported that Rahnavard was publicly hanged Monday morning in the northeastern Iranian city Mashhad on charges of killing two members of Iran's security forces and injuring four others last month amid the nationwide protests.
His execution comes days after the Islamist regime hanged Mohsen Shekari who was found guilty of "enmity against God" for injuring a member of the paramilitary with a machete while blocking a road as part of demonstrations.
Iran has been subsumed by anti-regime protests since mid-September when 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini was killed in police custody after being arrested for violating the country's draconian hijab laws.
Like the legal process Shekari was subjected to, Rahnavard's charges and trial have been contested by human rights organizations and advocates who accuse Iran of convicting the men in unfair trials during which they were denied the rights to access lawyers of their choosing, presumed innocence, remain silent or a fair and public hearing.
Following Shekari's execution, Amnesty International said 12 protesters, including Rahnavard, have been sentenced to death and another six were on trial or have been charged with crimes that carry the death penalty.
The human rights organization accuses Iran of using the death penalty "as a tool of political repression to instill fear among the public and end the popular uprising."
Human Rights Watch accused Iran of torturing detainees into confession during rushed trial proceedings that bypass safeguards in Iran's penal code and criminal procedure law.
"The trials of those who are facing capital charges related to protests have been a total travesty of justice," Tara Sepehri Far, senior Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights organization, said Monday's execution of Rahnavard occurring only 23 days after his arrest is not only a serious crime committed by the regime of Iran's spiritual leader Ali Khamenei but "a significant escalation of the level of violence against protesters."
"Rahnavard was sentenced to death based on coerced confessions, after a grossly unfair process and a show trial," Amiry-Moghaddam tweeted Monday. "This crime must be met with serious consequences for the Islamic Republic.
"Thousands of detained protesters, and a dozen death sentences already issued. There is a serious risk of mass execution of protesters," he warned, while calling on the international community to employ "a strong response as to deter the I.R. leaders from more executions."
U.S. Department of State spokesman Ned Price condemned Rahnavard's legal process, and those other protesters have been subjected to, as "sham trials" and the harsh sentences that follow as attempts to intimidate the Iranian people.
"They are meant to suppress dissent," he told reporters during a press conference Monday in Washington, D.C. "And they simply just underscore how much Iran's leadership actually fears its own people."
"As Iran's leadership continues its violent crackdown on peaceful protesters, they should know that the United States is watching, but more importantly the world is watching, and we'll continue to coordinate with our allies and partners around the world to confront Iran's human rights abuses."
The United States and its allies have repeatedly sanctioned Iran since the protests began. On Monday, the European Union announced 20 Iranian officials, including broadcasters as well as those in the military and government for their roles in repressing protests. The Islamist Republic of Iran Broadcasting was also hit by the punitive measures.
"This is in view of their role in the violent response to the recent demonstrations in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini," the European Council said in a statement.
According to Iran Human Rights, at least 458 people, including 63 minors, have been killed in Iran protesting the Islamic Republic since September.
Iran sentences 400 protesters to prison terms
December 13, 2022
Among those arrested, 160 were sentenced to between five and 10 years in prison, 80 people to two to five years, 160 people to up to two years, the chief of the judiciary of Tehran province, Ali Alghasi-Mehr, said according to the Mizan news agency.
The fact that the convictions are concentrated in the Tehran region means the number of convictions nationwide is likely significantly higher.
Iran has been rocked by protests since the death of Masha Amani, a 22-year-old woman who died in custody after she was detained by police on Sept. 13 for violating the country's hijab mandate.
Iran does not publish accurate information on arrests, but the Human Rights Activists' News Agency reports that 18,200 people have been detained in connection with the protests.
The United Nations Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights reports that over 300 people have been killed since the protests started.
On
Monday, authorities executed 23-year-old Majidreza Rahnavard after a secret
trial during which he was accused of killing two members of Basij volunteer
force, a pro-government militia that supports the security forces. It is the
second time the government has executed someone associated with the protests.
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