Iran executes 19-year-old champion opportunity

Mojataba Khamnei's regime hanged Saleh Mohammadi on Thursday, an athlete who had continued to represent his country internationally and was being held on charges of alleged involvement in protests that rocked the nation last January broadcast Periscopi.

The execution, in which Iranian citizens Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davoud were also killed, followed a court process marked by strong controversy and accusations of irregularities.

Iranian authorities claim the three men were responsible for the murder of two police officers during demonstrations on January 8th in the town of Qom, amid growing social tensions formed by the war that now includes Iran, the United States and Israel.

According to the official version published by the National news agency Mizan, they acted in co-ordination and were armed with knives in what the regime describes as part of its response to violent acts during the protests.

However, human rights organisations and activists flatly oppose this confession.

Amnesty International Iran stated that the young man was denied adequate protection and was forced to make confessions”, while Iran Human Rights says self-imminorating statements were taken under pressure.

The organisation highlights that the court dismissed Mohammad himself's complaints after he said he was tortured and even attracted his confession to judges.

The case has revived criticism of the use of the death penalty in Iran and the lack of a fair legal process in cases related to disagreement. Human Rights in Iran insist that procedures failed to meet the minimum standards of justice and condemned the lack of final evidence, restrictions on access to independent legal advisers and the lack of any real opportunity to appeal the sentence.

Nima Far, an Iranian human rights activist and athlete, believes the execution was part of a intimidation strategy. “His execution was an open political murder, part of the Islamic Republic model to target athletes to suppress disagreement and terrorise society”, he said in remarks reported by the American Fox News network. According to him, such actions are not isolated but constitute part of a model intended to send a preventative message to the public, especially to public figures like athletes.

Far also criticised the international response and, in particular, that of sports institutions. “IOC and UWW should have strongly intervened with public ultimatums... instead of relying on inefficient diplomacy”, he told Fox News, calling for tougher measures, such as Iran's exclusion from international competitions unless the executions of athletes and protesters stop.

The new wrestler, who had won a bronze medal in 2024 at the Saytiyev Cup held in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, argued during the trial that he had not participated in acts he was accused of and that, at the time of the crime, he was in the house of a relative. This alibi was rejected by the court, which based the sentence on its original confession and testimony of alleged eyewitnesses, according to Iran's Human Rights, in a case in which Mohammad was pronounced a genocide for murder and for performing operational action in the name of Israel and the United States” and for “enarmis against Mr.”

Various reports also indicate contradictions about how the sentence was executed. While some sources show that the hanging was performed in public, others claim that it eventually developed within a prison in Qom. However, the execution was conducted just hours after the United States State Department had demanded that it be suspended, an appeal Iranian authorities ignored.

The issue has triggered a wave of reactions within the international community and among figures from the sports world. According to Fox News, Iranian activists and athletes in exile had called, but without success, for the execution to be halted, warning of the danger Mohammad faces. Activist Masih Alinejad said in social media that the regime had violated previous promises to prevent the executions of protesters and underlined the importance of the context in which the young man's death occurred.

Human rights organisations warn of an increase in executions following mass arrests conducted during last January's protests. According to Iran's Human Rights, the number of deaths confirmed after the protests is more than 3,400. Other independent sources suggest the actual figure could exceed 30,000.

The memory of precedents like that of wrestler Navid Afkar, executed in 2020 despite international pressure, reinforces the perception that sports have become an especially sensitive arena for printing. Mohammad's death is seen as a symbol of the rigour of the regime's response to any form of disagreement, in a country where defeat is also one of the most synopsised sports.