Iran airs televised confession of wrestler after Trump tweet

The case of 27-year-old Navid Afkari has drawn the attention of a social media campaign that portrays him and his brothers as victims targeted over participating in protests against Iran's Shiite theocracy in 2018. The television segment and authorities accuse Afkari of stabbing a water supply company employee in the southern city of Shiraz amid the unrest.

Afkari's case has drawn international attention and revived a demand inside the country that Iran, one of the world's top executioners, stop carrying out the death penalty. Even imprisoned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, herself nearly a month into a hunger strike over conditions at Tehran's Evin prison amid the coronavirus pandemic, has passed word that she supports Afkari. Afkari and his brothers were employed as construction workers in Shiraz, a city some 680 kilometers (420 miles) south of the capital, Tehran. All three took part in demonstrations in 2018 that began in anger over Iran's cratering economy and spiraled into direct calls for the overthrow Iran's theocracy. Such unrest has continued sporadically in Iran in the time since, with authorities arresting thousands of people.

Afkari had local fame as a wrestler, a popular sport in Iran. A provincial court in Shiraz sentenced Afkari to death and his brothers Vahid Afkari and Habib Afkari to 54 and 27 years in prison, respectively, over the slaying. Afkari's case has drawn the attention of an online campaign that's included a video statement from Dana White, the president of the mixed martial arts competition called the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

“He went to a peaceful protest in Iran and he's going to be executed for that,” White said in a video Friday. “He's one of us. He could be any of my fighters.” White said he spoke to Trump, who had earlier tweeted out his own concern about Afkari's case.