According to reports, Iran executed another decorated wrestler this week despite international shouts and condemnation from the US State Department.
Mehdi Ali Hosseini was killed in a prison in the city of Dezful on Monday, Al Arabiya reported, citing a local news agency. A judicial official also confirmed the execution to the state-run ISNA news agency.
A top U.S. State Department official earlier this month slammed Iran’s plan to execute Hosseini after Tehran’s rulers publicly lifted champion wrestler Navid Afkari in September on widely criticized, follow-up charges.
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“The Iranian regime must be held accountable for its bad human rights violations and their attempt to seize power through execution,” Ellie Cohanim, the deputy special envoy of the State Department to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, told Fox News .
Hosseini, who is from Andimeshk in Khuzestan province, was arrested in 2015 and charged with premeditated murder, allegedly committed during a group fight. However, it is unclear whether the Iranian government forced Hosseini to admit a crime he did not commit.
According to human rights organizations and Western governments, Afkari’s opaque legal and punitive system has repeatedly tortured Afkari in recognition of a murder he did not commit. The spiritual rulers hanged Afkari because in 2018 they protested against the economic and political corruption of the regime controlled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Reports of Hosseini’s execution this week have been received with further criticism from activist groups.
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“The spiritual regime cannot survive one day without execution, torture and oppression in an attempt to create a reign of terror to prevent escalation of popular uprising, as it is engulfed by incurable internal and external crises,” the National Council for Resistance from Iran said.
“The Iranian resistance reiterates its call on the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Human Rights Council and all defenders of human rights, as well as the European Union and its member states, to carry out the horrific execution of Mehdi. Ali Hosseini and acted immediately to save the lives of prisoners on the death row, “he added.
Benjamin Weinthal of Fox News contributed to this report.