Reflections on the death sentence for another athlete in Iran; Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani's charge is "corruption on earth"
The death sentence for Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani has been met with reactions. The Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday, January 16, that the athlete was sentenced to death despite the fact that his crime was participating in a peaceful protest.
Journalist Masih Alinejad also referred to Mr. Vafaei Sani's conviction on Saturday by publishing a photo of him wearing boxing gloves and writing, "We were unable to save Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari. Maybe the world champions can help us this time."
Babak Paknia, Mr. Vafaei Sani's lawyer, announced last week that he had been sentenced to "execution by hanging" by the Fourth Branch of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court on charges of "corruption on earth." According to the lawyer, this verdict can be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Not much is known about Seyyed Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani. He is described as 26 years old, and some sources say he was active in boxing in Mashhad and holds championship titles.
He was arrested in March 2019 for what was called "arson and deliberate destruction of certain places, including the government prison building."
The November 2019 protests were one of the most widespread protests against the Islamic Republic. About 100 cities witnessed protests that were met with severe repression by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Some accounts put the death toll at more than a thousand, but the Islamic Republic has not yet announced the exact death toll. In the past year, several protesters have been sentenced to death or long prison terms for participating in these protests.
Human rights organizations say that the rights of these defendants have not been respected and that most of them have confessed under torture and pressure, even against themselves.
Three months ago, the "International People's Court of Aban" was held over several days to investigate the role of Iranian government officials in the bloody suppression of protests in London, and the Voice of America covered it in full.
Source: Voice of America
