Noveyed Afkari’s Sister Reports Destruction of Brother’s Grave
Elham Afkari, sister of Noveyed Afkari, a wrestler executed in Iran, announced the destruction of her brother’s burial site by posting an image on social media.
This news was released hours after Hossein and Hamid Afkari, Noveyed’s father and brother, were detained for several hours by security forces at his grave in Sangar village cemetery in Fars province’s Sepidan county.
Elham Afkari wrote in the caption of a photo she posted on her Instagram page: “This is not a battlefield, this is the grave of our Noveyed that they destroyed and took away and demolished.”
An informed source told Hrana news agency that the Afkari family has been under pressure not to place a memorial stone on Noveyed Afkari’s grave, and on Thursday when Noveyed’s father and brother were preparing the grave, they were detained and released several hours later.
Despite numerous ambiguities raised by his lawyers and despite international campaigns against his execution, Noveyed Afkari was executed on September 12 and buried secretly the same night.
After participating in protests in August 2018, he was arrested and accused of killing a security guard. Noveyed Afkari and his two brothers, Vahid and Habib, who are currently serving prison sentences, stated during trial that they were forced under torture to confess to the murder.
The Afkari family has repeatedly followed up in recent months to learn about the condition of Hamid and Habib Afkari in prison, but prison officials have not responded to them.
According to the court ruling, Vahid Afkari has been sentenced to 54 years and six months in prison and 74 lashes, and Habib Afkari has been sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison and 74 lashes.
Leaving burial sites unmarked, preventing memorial services, pressuring families, threatening and intimidating them, and destroying gravestones are among the cases seen in the history of security and judicial institutions of the Islamic Republic over the past four decades.
Source: Radio Farda
