Iran executes man whose case drew international attention

Iran’s state TV is reporting that country’s authorities has executed a wrestler for allegedly murdering a man after President Donald Trump asked for 27-year-old condemned man's life to be spared.

State TV quoted chief justice of Fars province, Kazem Mousavi as saying on Saturday: “ retaliation sentence against Navid Afkari, killer of Hassan Turkman, was carried out this morning in Adelabad prison in Shiraz.”

Afkari's case had drawn attention of a social media campaign that portrayed him and his brors as victims targeted over participating in protests against Iran’s Shiite ocracy in 2018. Authorities accused Afkari of stabbing a water supply company employee in sourn city of Shiraz amid unrest.

Iran broadcast wrestler's televised confession last week. segment resembled hundreds of or suspected coerced confessions aired over last decade in Islamic Republic.

case revived a demand inside country for Iran to stop carrying out death penalty. Even imprisoned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, herself nearly a month into a hunger strike over conditions at Tehran’s Evin prison amid coronavirus pandemic, passed word that she supported Afkari.

Earlier, U.S. president Donald tweeted out his own concern about Afkari’s case.