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Disturbingly, and perhaps unsurprisingly, Afkari’s words prior to his hanging remain prescient. “If I’m executed,” he said, “everyone should know that in the 21st century, despite all the funding and all the humanitarian organizations like the UN and the Security Council, an innocent person was executed even though he did all he could to fight and have his voice heard.”
The clerical regime’s lethal assault against its country’s athletes is meant to stifle dissent and sow terror among the population. Decorated wrestlers have been top targets of the regime’s hit list largely because wrestling is a historic national pastime, and its stars become celebrities with enormous followings.
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