Human rights in 2020: rage over killing of wrestler Navid Afkari as athlete activism grows and sport exerts greater influence
- World Players executive director Brendan Schwab says sport’s own legitimacy will be in question if it does not step up in name of human rights
- He says it has been an amazing year for human rights in sport, with athletes playing a major role in helping to raise awareness of crucial issues
The execution of Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari in September was among the most tragic of 2020’s sports-related human rights stories – casting a morbid shadow over a year in which greater scope for activism and legislation offered new hope for athletes’ security worldwide.
Afkari, 27, was hanged by the Tehran government after they said he confessed to the killing of a government official during riots in August, 2018. Human rights activists say his confession was forced via torture and he was targeted because of his status as a high-profile athlete in Iran.
The hope extracted from this heartbreaking event was that of voices now willing to turn up the volume of athlete consciousness in 2020, led by US wrestler Sally Roberts who raised awareness of Afkari’s plight, though she was unable to prevent Iran from carrying out the execution.
World Players – the exclusive global voice for some 85,000 athletes in more than 60 countries – said at its 4th World Assembly of the World Players Association in Nyon, Switzerland: “The expert evidence overwhelmingly shows that Navid was targeted because of his high profile as an athlete and was deprived of his fundamental human rights.
“Despite this, Navid was executed by the regime. World Players and those who fought for him remain determined to ensure that no other athlete suffers this horrific fate and that Navid’s death is not without justice or consequence.”
Afkari’s death was a dark spot on what World Players described as “an extraordinary year of athlete activism and collective action to advance human rights and address Covid-19 in the world of sport”.