Iran executes wrestler whose case drew international attention

A new twist in the U.S-Iran relations has taken place as Iranian state TV on Saturday reported that the country’s authorities executed a wrestler for allegedly murdering a man, after U.S President Donald Trump asked for the condemned young wrestler’s life to be spared. The chief justice of Fars province, Kazem Mousavi, said that “The retaliation sentence against Navid Afkari, the killer of Hassan Torkaman, was carried out this morning in Adelabad prison in Shiraz.” Afkari’s case had drawn the attention of a social media campaign that portrayed him and his brothers as victims targeted over participating in protests against Iran’s Shiite theocracy in 2018. Iranian Authorities accused Afkari of stabbing a water supply company employee in the southern city of Shiraz amid the unrest. U.S president Donald Trump had made an appeal to the Iranian authorities to spare the young man’s life via a tweet.