Wrestling champion Saleh Mohammadi, 19, ‘tortured into confessing crime’ and executed in public hanging by Islamic Republic
Iran carried out the public execution of 19-year-old champion wrestler Saleh Mohammadi on Thursday.
The teenager was hanged alongside two other men detained during anti-government demonstrations earlier this year.
Mohammadi, a promising freestyle competitor from Qom, was put to death together with Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davodi, according to Iranian state media and human rights organisations.
The three were arrested following their alleged involvement in nationwide protests that swept across Iran in late December 2025 and January 2026.
Human rights groups have condemned the proceedings as grossly unfair.
They claimed confessions were extracted through torture and that the men were denied proper legal representation.
Iranian authorities convicted Mohammadi of premeditated murder in connection with the death of a police officer from the Faraja Special Unit during clashes in Qom’s Nabovvat Square on January 8.
Prosecutors alleged the young wrestler participated in an attack involving knives and swords that caused the officer, Mohammad Ghasemi Homapour, to fall from his motorcycle and die.
Iran carried out the public execution of 19-year-old champion wrestler Saleh Mohammadi on Thursday
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The Qom Criminal Court handed down the death sentence in early February under the Islamic principle of qisas, or retribution-in-kind, with Iran’s Supreme Court subsequently upholding the ruling.
Mohammadi had represented Iran at international level, winning a bronze medal at the Saytiev International Cup in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, in September 2024.
Nima Far, a human rights activist and Iranian combat athlete, told Fox News: “His execution was a blatant political murder, part of the Islamic Republic’s pattern of targeting athletes to crush dissent and terrorise society.”
Rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Iran Human Rights, have highlighted severe due process violations throughout the case.
The three were arrested following their alleged involvement in nationwide protests
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They point to the rejection of alibi evidence and witness testimony, alongside the denial of access to independent legal counsel.
All three defendants reportedly denied the charges against them, yet the court accepted confessions campaigners say were obtained under duress during interrogation.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency estimates approximately 53,000 people were detained during the regime’s crackdown on protesters.
The US State Department had previously urged Iran to halt the execution, writing on social media in late January: “The regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran is massacring young people and destroying Iran’s future.”
Nima Far called on international sporting bodies to take decisive action
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Mohammadi’s case echoes that of wrestler Navid Afkari, who was executed in 2020 for allegedly killing a police officer during protests two years earlier.
Far called on international sporting bodies to take decisive action.
She argued the International Olympic Committee and United World Wrestling should have threatened immediate suspension of Iran’s federations rather than relying on quiet diplomacy.
Far said: “Iran must be banned from international competitions until it halts executions of protesters and athletes.”
