Iran Executes Wrestler Whose Case Drew International Attention

In this June 25, 2018 file photo, a group of protesters chant slogans at the main gate of the Old Grand Bazaar, in Tehran, Iran. (Iranian Labor News Agency via AP, File)
In this June 25, 2018 file photo, a group of protesters chant slogans at the main gate of the Old Grand Bazaar, in Tehran, Iran. (Iranian Labor News Agency via AP, File)
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Iran Executes Wrestler Whose Case Drew International Attention

In this June 25, 2018 file photo, a group of protesters chant slogans at the main gate of the Old Grand Bazaar, in Tehran, Iran. (Iranian Labor News Agency via AP, File)
In this June 25, 2018 file photo, a group of protesters chant slogans at the main gate of the Old Grand Bazaar, in Tehran, Iran. (Iranian Labor News Agency via AP, File)

Iranian state TV on Saturday reported that the country’s authorities executed a wrestler for allegedly murdering a man, after President Donald Trump asked for the 27-year-old condemned man’s life to be spared.

State TV quoted the chief justice of Fars province, Kazem Mousavi, as saying: “The retaliation sentence against Navid Afkari, the killer of Hassan Torkaman, was carried out this morning in Adelabad prison in Shiraz.”

Afkari’s case had drawn the attention of a social media campaign that portrayed him and his brothers as victims targeted over participating in protests against Iran’s theocracy in 2018. Authorities accused Afkari of stabbing a water supply company employee in the southern city of Shiraz amid the unrest.

Iran broadcast the wrestler’s televised confession last week. The segment resembled hundreds of other suspected coerced confessions aired over the last decade in the country.

The International Olympic Committee in a statement Saturday said it was shocked and saddened by the news of the wrestler’s execution, and that the committee’s president, Thomas Bach, “had made direct personal appeals to the Supreme Leader and to the President of Iran this week and asked for mercy for Navid Afkari.”

The case revived a demand inside the country for Iran to 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, passed word that she supported Afkari.

Last week, Trump tweeted out his own concern about Afkari’s case.

“To the leaders of Iran, I would greatly appreciate if you would spare this young man’s life, and not execute him,” Trump wrote. “Thank you!”

Iran responded to Trump’s tweet with a nearly 11-minute state TV package on Afkari. It included the weeping parents of the slain water company employee. The package included footage of Afkari on the back of a motorbike, saying he had stabbed the employee in the back, without explaining why he allegedly carried out the assault.

The state TV segment showed blurred police documents and described the killing as a “personal dispute,” without elaborating. It said Afkari’s cellphone had been in the area and it showed surveillance footage of him walking down a street, talking on his phone.

Last week, Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency dismissed Trump’s tweet in a feature story, saying that American sanctions have hurt Iranian hospitals amid the pandemic.

“Trump is worried about the life of a murderer while he puts many Iranian patients’ lives in danger by imposing severe sanctions,” the agency said.



Donald Trump Tries to Blunt Democrats’ Momentum in North Carolina

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives for a town hall event at the Crown Complex in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on October 4, 2024. (AFP)
Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives for a town hall event at the Crown Complex in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on October 4, 2024. (AFP)
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Donald Trump Tries to Blunt Democrats’ Momentum in North Carolina

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives for a town hall event at the Crown Complex in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on October 4, 2024. (AFP)
Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives for a town hall event at the Crown Complex in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on October 4, 2024. (AFP)

Donald Trump campaigned in North Carolina on Friday for the fourth time in a month, as the Republican presidential candidate tries to firm up support in a state he was handily leading a few months ago but is now among the most competitive in the race.

The former president's visit to Fayetteville, home to a large military community, came as the state has been convulsed by literal and political storms.

Once-in-a-generation floods triggered by Hurricane Helene killed dozens in the state's western mountains, while the Republican candidate for governor has faced damaging reports about past inflammatory and lewd comments.

Trump drew cheers from the raucous crowd of thousands packed into a coliseum when he declared that if elected, he would seek to change the name of the state's sprawling military base, Fort Liberty, back to Fort Bragg. The name, changed last year, previously honored a Confederate general in the US Civil War.

Trump dismissed comments by US President Joe Biden, who cautioned this week that Israel should not attack Iranian nuclear facilities.

"Isn't that what you're supposed to hit?" said Trump. "When they asked him that question, the answer should have been hit the nuclear first and worry about the rest later."

Some Trump allies privately say the race in North Carolina, which Trump won in both the 2016 and 2020 elections, is too close for comfort, even as they think he still has a slight leg up on Democratic rival Kamala Harris ahead of the Nov. 5 election. Hurricane Helene has intensified those concerns amid fears by some Trump advisers and donors who privately worry the storm could depress turnout in the state's conservative mountain regions.

By some metrics, the vice president is doing marginally better here than she is in Arizona and Georgia, two states which Trump lost in 2020. The three states are among a handful of battlegrounds that both candidates have a legitimate shot of winning next month, and will play a critical role in determining the election winner.

"I'm freaking out about North Carolina," said one major Trump donor, who was granted anonymity to give his candid assessment of the race. "Georgia and Arizona are not in the bag but heading in the right direction."

Trump leads Harris by 0.5 percentage point in North Carolina, according to a polling average maintained by FiveThirtyEight, a polling and analysis website. The former president leads Harris by 1.1 points in Georgia and 1.2 points in Arizona. All of those figures are within the margin of error for major polls, meaning either candidate could walk away with a victory.

On his way to North Carolina, Trump stopped in Evans, Georgia, for a briefing at a hurricane response center with the state's Republican governor, Brian Kemp.

The two men recently struck a truce after Trump publicly criticized Kemp for not supporting the specious election fraud claims he used in 2020 to try to overturn his loss in Georgia.

"I'm not thinking about voters right now, I'm thinking about lives," Trump told reporters.

HITTING THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL HARD

Trump had been leading Biden by several percentage points in North Carolina before the Democratic president dropped his re-election bid in July and passed the baton to Harris, who has steadily closed the gap with Trump.

While Trump's ad spending in the state has been relatively modest compared with most other battleground states, he has hit the campaign trail hard. His four campaign events in North Carolina, including stops in Wilmington and Mint Hill, in the last month outnumber those in any other state except for Wisconsin and Michigan, according to a Reuters tally.

The Trump campaign referred a request for comment to North Carolina's Republican Party. Matt Mercer, the party's communications director, said the Trump campaign was going as planned in the Southern state.

"North Carolina is close and has been for several cycles," Mercer said. "However, President Trump has won the state twice, and we are confident we will deliver a third time."

Harris also has made frequent trips to North Carolina and is expected there again on Saturday.

Dory MacMillan, a communications official for her campaign, said Harris "is gaining momentum as voters continue to learn more about Vice President Harris' vision for a New Way Forward where our freedoms are protected and everyone has the chance to not just get by, but get ahead."

Among the potential headwinds Trump faces is the state's Republican gubernatorial candidate, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, a Trump ally.

In September, CNN reported that Robinson, a Black man, had called himself a "black NAZI," advocated bringing back slavery and said he enjoyed transsexual pornography in an online chatroom. Robinson denied making the comments.

Analysts say it is unclear if the Robinson scandal will depress turnout among Republicans on Election Day, potentially hurting Trump. But it will certainly not help.

"It hasn't necessarily changed voters' minds, but where I would be concerned is that you want everyone rowing in the same direction," said Doug Heye, a veteran Republican strategist and North Carolina native, who noted the disarray around Robinson's campaign was hampering its ability to drive voters to the polls.

Privately, two Trump donors and a Trump adviser added that the fallout from the hurricane was a worry. The most affected areas of the state are also among its most Republican.

"If you don't have a home, do you really care about the presidential election?" the adviser said, summing up the concerns.