Wrestling Champions Use Their Collective Voice to Save Navid’s Life

An American wrestling champion has appealed to the International Olympic Committee and United World Wrestling to help save the life of Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari, who could face execution for his alleged role in the death of an Iranian official. 

“I sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee President [Thomas] Bach and United World Wrestling president [Nenad] Lalovic directly asking them to intervene and use their collective voices to save Navid’s life,” wrestling champion Sally Roberts told IranWire’s Payam Younesipour.

Roberts, who is a two-time World Bronze medalist in women's wrestling, a three-time national champion and a 2003 World Cup Champion, said colleagues in the human rights and sports communities contacted her about Afkari’s ordeal. She said Wrestle Like a Girl, the organization she founded and heads, is working with other groups to campaign for Afkari’s life to be saved. “Wrestle Like A Girl is working closely with our friends and colleagues in the sports and human rights community to save Navid, such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC), United World Wrestling (UWW), Human Rights Watch, Equality League, World Players Union, and other critical and crucial entities. With our voices combined, we are amplifying the message #saveNavidAfkari and asking the Iranian government for a stay of execution,” she says. 

"We believe that every person has a right to life and we implore the Iranian government to grant a stay of execution of the champion wrestler Navid Afkari."

A Murder Trial Based on Forced Confessions

Navid Afkari faces the death penalty for his alleged involvement in the August 2018 murder of Hasan Turkman, an intelligence office employee for the security department of Shiraz Water and Sewage Company. He was also a member of the local Basij, the volunteer wing of the Revolutionary Guards. 

Turkman was killed during protests against inflated prices, which began on July 31 and lasted until August 2. According to reports, he was attacked on the street with a sharp object and later died in prison. 

Navid Afkari and his brothers Vahid and Habib were accused of his murder, despite witnesses testifying that they were not in the area when Turkman was attacked. Local people have also denied that they had even participated in the protests. These pieces of evidence were ignored by the court. Afkari was reportedly tortured and his family threatened, and he eventually confessed to the murder. Later he retracted the confession, saying he had been under intense pressure to admit his guilt. 

The criminal court handed down a death sentence for Navid Afkari, and this was upheld by the Supreme Court, which rejected his request for a retrial. A Revolutionary Court then issued the Sharia punishment of retribution (qisas) for the murder, meaning he has been sentenced to death twice. His brothers Vahid and Habib have been given long prison sentences: combined, the sentences total more than 80 years in prison. 

Iranian wrestlers, and the wider Iranian athletic community, have largely remained silent about the conviction and the harsh sentence, though some individuals have spoken out on social media. They include Greco-Roman wrestling champions Mohammad Reza Garaei, Mohammad Ali Garaei and Mehdi Aliyari, as well as Vahid Bana, the former Iranian National Judo Team captain. All posted photographs of Navid Afkari on social media calling for his death sentence to be withdrawn. They later took down these posts, a probable sign of the danger they felt they had put themselves in by speaking out. 

The Power of International Solidarity

Sally Roberts has promoted equality and human rights through Wrestle Like A Girl, which she founded in 2016, and which Roberts says has a “mission to empower girls and women using the sport of wrestling to become leaders in life.” As an advocacy initiative positioned “at the intersection of wrestling, gender equality, and human rights,” Roberts has worked hard to keep human rights in the spotlight, and athletes subjected to any kind of prejudice or discrimination are a key concern. “We support and uphold the Universal Declaration of Player Rights, which is designed to protect players from ongoing and systemic human rights violations in global sport,” Roberts says. 

Wrestle Like A Girl’s work includes pressuring the US’ National Collegiate Athletic Association to recognize women’s wrestling as an official sport. With its international mandate, however, Roberts, who served in the US military in Afghanistan, hopes the non-profit organization’s appeal to Iran and leading international sporting authorities will persuade authorities to spare Navid Afkari’s life. 

When the universal declaration was launched in December 2017, Brendan Schwab, Executive Director of the World Players Association said, “We are making it clear that athlete rights can no longer be ignored. They must be able to quickly access justice.”

For Navid Afkari, it’s not illegitimate sports law that is jeopardizing his life — though Iranian sporting authorities’ endemic corruption is widely documented — it is Iran’s failing judiciary, biased legal processes and an overriding system that favors the political elite. But given that the world of sport, backed up by the Olympic Charter, has enshrined human rights as a guiding principle, Afkari could have another level of support behind him, in addition to the support from more traditional rights and advocacy groups. 

"Both international bodies [the UWW and IOIC] have been informed,” says Sally Roberts. “We are hopeful they will use their powers to advocate on behalf of the champion wrestler Navid.”

Related Coverage: 

Can the International Wrestling Organization Prevent the Execution of an Iranian Wrestler?

Tortured and at Risk of Execution for Taking Part in 2018 Protests