According to a Fox News report, Iran’s hardline regime carried out the execution of a 19-year-old champion wrestler Thursday, defying U.S. warnings and international pleas in what critics are calling a chilling message to dissenters.
Saleh Mohammadi, a rising athlete accused of protesting against the Khamenei regime, was reportedly killed in a public hanging — a move human rights activists say was designed to terrorize the population and crush an ongoing anti-government movement.
Iranian-American activists and dissidents described the execution as part of a broader campaign by Tehran to target high-profile figures, including athletes, to deter unrest.
Nima Far, a human rights activist and Iranian combat sports expert, called the killing “a blatant political murder,” pointing to what he described as a pattern of the regime punishing prominent athletes.
“His execution was a blatant political murder, part of the Islamic Republic’s pattern of targeting athletes to crush dissent and terrorize society, as seen with Navid Afkari and others executed despite international outcry,” Far told Fox News Digital.
Far also blasted global sports authorities for what he called a weak response.
“The IOC and United World Wrestling should have intervened forcefully with public ultimatums, threatening immediate suspension of Iran’s Olympic committee and federations if the killing proceeded rather than relying on ineffective quiet diplomacy,” he said.
More over at Fox News:
DEFIANT DISPLAY: Iran executes wrestling champion in public despite US warning, international outcryhttps://t.co/ezi5wAlC3j
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