Family of Executed Athlete Arrested

The brother and father of Navid Afkari, a wrestler executed in September, have been arrested by intelligence agents.

A source told IranWire that Hossein Afkari and his son Hamid were cleaning the area around Navid's grave when they were detained on the morning of December 17 and taken to an undisclosed location.

Navid Afkari was executed in secret on September 12. He had been accused of killing a security guard during protests in 2018, along with his brothers Vahid and Habib Afkari, who are serving long prison sentences.

The wrestler, whose execution attracted condemnation from around the world, is buried in the cemetery in the village of Sangar in Gilan province near the Caspian Sea in northwest Iran.

IranWire’s source says the family had not been allowed to visit the cemetery or care for the headstone and the area around the grave. But the father and son had gone to the cemetery to tidy the unkempt area around the grave, which had not been prepared for the tombstone to be positioned.   

The eyewitness said the arrest was carried out without any clashes or confrontations. The father and his son slowly accompanied the officers and left the cemetery with them.

No reason has been given for their arrest.