Family Members Of Executed Wrestler Arrested On Visit To His Grave
Three family members of executed Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari were arrested on Tuesday as they wanted to go to his grave for the second anniversary of his execution.
Three family members of executed Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari were arrested on Tuesday as they wanted to go to his grave for the second anniversary of his execution.
Navid’s sister Elham Afkari, along with one of the four brothers, Habib, and his wife were arrested by security forces who have blocked roads leading to the grave.
Navid Afkari was arrested along with two of his brothers Habib and Vahid during protests in Iran in 2018 and was executed despite international campaigns to save his life. His other brother Saeed said in August that Vahid has been threatened with death in prison in Shiraz.
Habib Afkari was freed after months of solitary confinement in March, but Vahid is sentenced to 54 years and 6 months in prison and 74 lashes and is held in solitary confinement.
On Tuesday, Saeed confirmed the arrest of his family members and also released an audio recording from one of the hearings of Vahid that proved he was not given a fair trial. He initially received a death sentence for an “act of war against God” for his participation in protests, the authorities later charged him and his brothers with the murder of a government employee.
Amnesty International said in June 2021 that Vahid and Habib were being subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in Adel-Abad prison in Shiraz, and were denied access to adequate healthcare, fresh air, telephone calls and face to face family visits.
Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani was quoted by the official government news website IRNA as saying that Tehran was following “this issue carefully” and offered Iran’s help to resolve differences.
Armenia said on Tuesday that at least 49 of its soldiers had been killed in clashes along the border with Azerbaijan after a sharp escalation in hostilities which prompted Russia and the United States to call for restraint.
The escalation of decades-old hostilities between the south Caucasus countries has fuelled fears that a second fully-fledged war could break out in the post-Soviet world in addition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Iran has to an extent supported Armenia in the conflict with Azerbaijan and has warned that it would not allow any seizure of territory from Armenia proper by Baku. Tehran in the past has also expressed alarm at alleged Israeli military presence in Azerbaijan. Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also warned in October 2021 that Iran will not tolerate "geopolitical change" in the region and at the borders.
Armenia said Tuesday that several towns near the border with Azerbaijan, including Jermuk, Goris and Kapan, were being shelled in the early hours of Tuesday, and that it had responded to what it called a "large-scale provocation" by Azerbaijan.
Baku said it was attacked by Armenia.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of attacking Armenian towns because it did not want to negotiate over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave which is inside Azerbaijan but mainly populated by ethnic Armenians.
"The intensity of hostilities has decreased but attacks on one or two fronts from Azerbaijan continue," Pashinyan said in a speech to parliament, according to Russian media.
Azerbaijan, which accused Armenia of carrying out intelligence activity along the border and moving weapons, said its military positions came under attack by Armenia. Azeri media reported that a ceasefire agreement had been broken almost immediately after being enforced early on Tuesday.
‘No military solution’
Both Russia and the United States called on Baku and Yerevan to observe restraint.
"As we have long made clear, there can be no military solution to the conflict," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. "We urge an end to any military hostilities immediately."
The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan "should be resolved exclusively through political and diplomatic means".
Russia, which operates a military base in Armenia, sent thousands of peacekeepers to the region in 2020 as part of a deal to end six weeks of hostilities during which Azerbaijan make significant territorial gains in and around Nagorno-Karabakh.
Moscow is a key power broker in the region and an ally of Yerevan through the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which convened on Tuesday to discuss the situation. Turkey backs Azerbaijan.
The defense ministers of Armenia and Russia spoke on Tuesday morning and agreed to take steps to stabilise the situation on the border. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu talked to his Azeri counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov and called for Armenia to "cease its provocations".
Charles Michel, president of the European Council, also urged Pashinyan to prevent further escalation. Michel met with Pashinyan and Azerbaijaini President Ilham Aliyev last month in Brussels.
With reporting by Reuters
