Shahin Naseri in his last message from prison: I was an eyewitness to medieval torture on Navid Afkari's body

Shahin Naseri, whose suspicious death in Greater Tehran Prison has made headlines, says in his last audio message from inside the prison, which was exclusively received by Radio Farda, that he was an "eyewitness to medieval torture" on the body of Navid Afkari, the executed Iranian wrestling champion.

In this message, while "declaring solidarity" with Vahid and Habib Afkari, who are in prison, he says that he "declares disgust" with this regime "due to the Islamic Republic's spreading hatred and baseless accusations against Iranian citizens and the violation of the most basic rights of citizens" and "demands that this regime revoke his citizenship."

At the end of his message, Shahin Nasseri accused government officials of "mass theft" and called on the Iranian people not to leave the protests of citizens in Khuzestan, Sistan, and Kurdistan "unanswered" and to "stand up to help them."

Shahin Naseri, a business expert and non-political prisoner, testified in an official, registered letter from prison on November 29, 2019, that he had personally witnessed the torture of Navid Afkari, the executed Iranian wrestling champion, at the Shiraz Intelligence Department.

On September 20, the Iranian Human Rights Organization reported the suspicious death of Shahin Naseri in solitary confinement in Greater Tehran Prison, and Shahin Naseri's brother also said: "His friends told us that he was killed in solitary confinement."

A day after this news was published, the Iranian Human Rights Organization called for international and human rights authorities to follow up on the suspicious death of Shahin Naseri in Greater Tehran Prison and to form a fact-finding mission in this regard.

The Iranian Human Rights Organization writes that 24 hours after Shahin Naseri's suspicious death, officials contacted his family and asked them to go to the Kahrizak forensic medicine office to hand over the body.

Mahmoud Amiri-Moghaddam, director of the Iranian Human Rights Organization, said on Wednesday that "responsibility for Shahin Nasseri's death, regardless of the reason the authorities announce, lies with the Prisons Organization, the Judiciary, and the Leader of the Islamic Republic, and they must be held accountable in this matter."

Zabihollah Khodaian, a spokesman for the judiciary, did not provide any explanation about Shahin Nasseri's condition at a press conference on Wednesday, and Islamic Republic officials have so far not provided any explanation regarding the news of his death.

In September 2020, at the same time as the execution of Navid Afkari, a former member of the Iranian wrestling team, various reports of his torture to extract a forced confession were published. Despite the denial of this by the Iranian judiciary, according to the Iranian Human Rights Organization, at the same time, the voice of Shahin Nasseri, who was serving his sentence for non-political crimes in Shiraz, was broadcast, denying this claim as a witness to the torture of Navid Afkari.

In his "Witness Investigation" sheet, Shahin Naseri described the details of the day he saw Navid Afkari in Shiraz "during torture." Based on these four sheets of testimony, Shahin Naseri says that while he was in the Shiraz Intelligence Department, he heard Navid Afkari's screams and saw him being beaten by two plainclothes officers.

An informed source told the Iranian Human Rights Organization in recent days that "Shahin Naseri had written a letter on the anniversary of Navid Afkari's execution and intended to read it over the phone, but the guards found out about it and transferred him to solitary confinement before he could read the letter."

Vahid and Habib Afkari, along with their brother Navid Afkari, were arrested during the August 2018 protests in Shiraz and charged with "moharebeh" and the murder of an employee of a security institution.

Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old wrestler, was executed on September 12th of last year and buried at night, despite numerous ambiguities announced by his lawyers and despite a global campaign opposing his execution.

Source: Radio Farda