Iran’s government on Monday denied that soccer player Amir Nasr Azadani has been sentenced to death for participating in anti-government protests.
«False news about the death sentence of an Iranian soccer player,» the Iranian Embassy in Colombia has indicated, after Colombian President Gustavo Petro urged Iran «not to kill» its soccer player.
«Very good for Messi, and for the Argentine people. And may Iran not kill soccer,» Petro wrote in a message through his Twitter social network profile. Following this, the Iranian diplomacy office in Colombia has reacted, criticizing a «hybrid war» in which «the ‘fake news’ campaign» continues.
«The trial has not yet taken place. Therefore, the news of the death penalty is a pure lie,» said the Embassy, which explained that Azadani is the fifth defendant in a criminal case for allegedly belonging to an armed group that allegedly killed three police officers and security agents with automatic weapons.
The International Federation of Professional Footballers’ Associations (FIFPRO) confirmed last Tuesday that the Iranian footballer had been sentenced to death for supporting the protests.
«FIFPRO is shocked and sickened by reports that professional footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani faces execution in Iran after campaigning for women’s rights and basic freedoms in his country. We stand in solidarity with Amir and call for the immediate removal of his punishment,» the union said in a statement.
The 26-year-old former Rah-Ahan, Tractor and Gol-e Rayhan player was charged by the Iranian regime with a crime called ‘moharebeh’, i.e. ‘enmity against God’. This crime carries execution by hanging, a penalty already suffered by the young Mohsen Shekari and the fighter Majid Reza Rahnavard, hanged in public in Mashad on the same charges as Amir Nasr-Azadani, after a trial without guarantees.
SOURCE: (EUROPA PRESS)
