sport news Navid Afkari could have been representing Iran in Tokyo this week... instead ...

sport news Navid Afkari could have been representing Iran in Tokyo this week... instead ...
sport news Navid Afkari could have been representing Iran in Tokyo this week... instead ...

If things had been different, Navid Afkari could be fulfilling a lifelong dream of representing Iran in Olympic wrestling this week. And if Dana White or even Donald Trump had their way, Afkari would at least still be alive. Last September, he was hanged in Iran for a crime he insisted he didn't commit, executed by the country he longed to represent.

Wrestling is Iran's national sport, its history stretching back to the days of ancient Persia. They have won 43 Olympic medals, more than any other event in their history at the Games. And it's clear to see how they are so good, with wrestling gyms populating on thre street corners of every city in the country.

Those gyms were where Afkari thrived. At 17, he made a national training camp for just eight wrestlers in the 69kg category. By 23, he had been earmarked as a future Olympian by coaches and to fund the pursuit of his dreams, he worked as a labourer by day. He won titles in Greco-Roman wrestling, where competitors only use their upper bodies to fight an opponent. 

Achieving what Afkari did in a proud nation's first sport means your name prestige. But that heroic status put a target on his back that cost him his life at the age of 27. 

After taking part in widespread national protests against an increasingly paranoid and isolated Iranian regime in 2018 he, along with his two brothers, were arrested for the murder of a security guard. 

His trial was branded 'grossly unfair' by Amnesty international.

Reports say the judge refused to show footage used to link Afkari with the crime or hear him present any form of defence, while Afkari claimed he was tortured into giving a false confession that was eventually broadcast on Iranian television days before his execution.

Navid Afkari could have been competing for Iran at the Olympics this week - instead, the Iranian regime made an example out of him and his status as a wrestler to quell unrest in the country

Navid Afkari could have been competing for Iran at the Olympics this week - instead, the Iranian regime made an example out of him and his status as a wrestler to quell unrest in the country

Afkari was a champion in Greco-Roman wrestling in Iran but after protesting against the country's Islamic regime in 2018, was arrested and sentenced to death for the murder of a security guard - a charge labelled 'a smokescreen' by the United Nations

Afkari was a champion in Greco-Roman wrestling in Iran but after protesting against the country's Islamic regime in 2018, was arrested and sentenced to death for the murder of a security guard - a charge labelled 'a smokescreen' by the United Nations

He was convicted and given two death sentences - the second for 'waging war against the state' due to his participation in the protests. His brothers were handed 54 and 27-year sentences. Afkari's complaints of torture were never investigated and on September 12, 2020 he was hanged in the ancient city of Shiraz - known as the city of poets - where he had grown up. 

It was a hurried execution, for reasons that are not entirely clear. His family were prevented from seeing him one last time, as Iranian law states should happen. While the circumstances around the morning of his death on September 12 are hazy, the reasons he had been put in that position are not.

'Navid was targeted because of his success and popularity as an athlete, and this brutality was held up as an example to terrorize the public and silence dissent,' Brendan Schwab, the executive director of the World Players' Association, a global union representing 85,000 professional sports men and women worldwide, said in a statement to Sportsmail.

'We are determined that Navid’s life will not be lost in vain. We will continue to fight for the rights of athletes and to ensure that the world of sport holds those who abuse human rights to the highest standards of accountability.'  

In a leaked voice recording from prison before his death, Afkari railed against the iniquity of his fate.

'During all the years that I wrestled, I never faced a cowardly opponent who played dirty,' Afkari said, in a chilling recording. 'It has been two years that my family and I have had to face off against injustice and the most cowardly and dishonourable opponent. Without a doubt, without your support and aid we will all lose. If I am executed, I want you to know that an innocent person, even though he tried and fought with all his strength to be heard, was executed.'  

A protestor pictured outside the Iranian embassy in London on the day it emerged Afkari had been executed back in Iran

A protestor pictured outside the Iranian embassy in London on the day it emerged Afkari had been executed back in Iran

In a voice recording that leaked from his jail, Afkari said: 'If I am executed, I want you to know that an innocent person, even though he tried and fought with all his strength to be heard, was executed.'

In a voice recording that leaked from his jail, Afkari said: 'If I am executed, I want you to know that an innocent person, even though he tried and fought with all his strength to be heard, was executed.'

Afkari was protesting in 2018 against Iran's ruling theocracy that has been in place since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. 

In Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has the final say on matters, but there are other competing factions of power. There is a somewhat loosely elected president and also the Islamic Revolutionary Guards - an arm of the military with increasing influence, founded the year the Islamic Republic took power. Their job is exactly what it says on the tin: guard the revolution and by whatever means necessary.

Iran's population - a young population - have grown increasingly disenchanted by the stranglehold over their freedoms. The internet is heavily policed - they use VPNs and other inventive methods to keep contact with the outside world - and Twitter and Facebook are banned, despite Khamenei having his own Twitter account.

Women must wear headscarves - hijabs - in public. Homosexuality is illegal, and sexual activity outside of marriage is forbidden.  

FBI FOILED PLOT TO KIDNAP FOUNDER OF THE 'UNITED FOR NAVID' FOUNDATION FROM USA

Masih Alinejad is the founder of the 'United for Navid' foundation. It recently emerged that the FBI foiled a plot from Iranian intelligence officials to kidnap her from New York, where she lives, and take her back to Iran via Venezuela, where she believes she would have been executed

Masih Alinejad is the founder of the 'United for Navid' foundation. It recently emerged that the FBI foiled a plot from Iranian intelligence officials to kidnap her from New York, where she lives, and take her back to Iran via Venezuela, where she believes she would have been executed

Afkari had long reviled Iran's rulers. He followed US-based Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad on Instagram - one of the social media platforms Iran has not banned. Alinejad is a fierce and relentless critic of the Iranian regime and its human rights record, documenting the struggles of the Iranian people to her 5.5million followers.

Unbeknown to her until after his death, Akfari once commented on her February 2018 post about a woman being arrested for protesting the compulsory hijab law. He wrote 'I spit on your rotten soul' about Supreme Leader Khamenei. It was liked 71,000 times. 

Alinejad has since founded the 'United for Navid' foundation, aimed at preserving Afkari's memory and calling for Iran to be suspended from the international sporting arena.

'In death, Navid has reached heroic status,' Alinejad told Sportsmail. 'He has become larger in death than he ever was in life. 

'The government viewed Navid as a threat and silenced him, using his execution as a deterrent to others. But his only crime was to protest against an unjust system.

'The government wanted to send a message of fear. He's a hero for millions of young athletes. He's everywhere now. I couldn't save Navid but I wanted to save his two brothers who face long jail sentences. And I wanted his death not to be in vain.'  

Alinejad's own defiance in speaking out against Iran's Islamic regime - not just on behalf of Afkari's memory - has come at a remarkable impact on her own safety. 

Days after speaking to Sportsmail, it emerged the FBI foiled a plot to kidnap Alinejad and take her to Venezuela by boat and then on to Iran, where, she told CNN, she believes she would have been executed. 

Four Iranian intelligence officials have been charged, while Alinejad continues to receive police protection. 

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In 2018 the United States, under presidency of Donald Trump, imposed an array of sanctions on Iran after withdrawing from the nuclear deal. Iran furiously responded by ramping up its nuclear programme but as the economy crumpled and inflation spiralled, large swathes of frustrated Iranians took to the streets in protest, including Afkari.

It was a decision that would spark a series of events that cost him his life,

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