Human rights organizations have reported that Iranian footballer Amir Reza Nasr Azadani, who was detained last month for taking part in nationwide de
Human rights organizations have reported that Iranian footballer Amir Reza Nasr Azadani, who was detained last month for taking part in nationwide demonstrations against the country’s religious establishment, has been given the death penalty.
According to Iran’s ISNA news agency, Mr. Azadani was detained in connection with the deaths of three security personnel during protests in Isfahan and charged with “waging war against God.”
The 26-year-old Iranian league football player is one of at least 27 Iranians who are in danger of being executed due to the demonstrations that have gripped the nation for nearly three months.
Majidreza Rahnavard and Mohsen Shekari, two of those individuals who are both 23 years old, were publicly executed this month.
Famous footballers from the present and the past showed support and demanded an end to executions.
Using their social media channels, former Iranian international Ali Karimi and World Cup goalie Alireza Beiranvand urged the revocation of the conviction and an end to executions.
Local media said that Mr. Azadani was a part of a “armed group that operated in a networked and organized manner with the intent of fighting the basis of the Islamic Republic establishment,” according to Asadollah Jafari, the judiciary chief of Isfahan.
After Mahsa Amini, 22, who had been imprisoned by morality police for donning her hijab, or headscarf, “improperly,” passed away while in custody, protests broke out.
According to the Human Rights Activists’ News Agency, over the months of unrest that followed, at least 490 demonstrators, including 68 children and 62 security personnel, have died (HRANA).
Iran’s continuous violations of women’s rights led the UN Economic and Social Council to vote on Wednesday to exclude Iran from the UN’s top global organization promoting gender equality.
With 16 abstentions and a vote of 29-8, the US-sponsored resolution to suspend Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women for the remaining two years of its 2022–2026 term was approved.
The Commission on the Status of Women, which has 45 members, holds yearly meetings in March with the goal of advancing women’s empowerment and gender equality.
The vote, which resulted in the first-ever dismissal of a commission member, was hailed by US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield as “historic” and “the right thing to do.”
The UN expulsion, according to Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), “begets a larger course correction in Iran policy around the world.”
