The message posted alongside the photo said: “You can threaten, destroy, or arrest, [but] what are you going to do about Navid’s name and memory [living on] in people’s hearts?”
Iranian state news agency IRNA published a Friday article confirming that authorities demolished the walls at Afkari’s gravesite.
The U.S. State Department’s Farsi Twitter account denounced Iran's action in a Twitter post.
رژیم سعی کرد با اعدام نوید افکاری صدای او را خاموش کند. آن ها اکنون سعی دارند با هتک حرمت به سنگ مزارش جهان را وادار به فراموش کردن او کنند. آنها قادر به درک این نیستند که خاطره و آرمان نوید اکنون در قلب و ذهن ایرانیان آزادیخواه در سراسر جهان نقش بسته است. #ما_نوید_افکاری_هستیمpic.twitter.com/A8M4KlbJUI
— USA darFarsi (@USAdarFarsi) December 18, 2020
“The [Iranian] regime tried to silence Navid Afkari by executing him. Now they are trying to make the world forget him by desecrating his tomb. They are unable to understand that the memory and inspiration of Navid is etched into the hearts and minds of freedom-loving Iranians around the world,” the State Department wrote.