US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday condemned the "vicious" execution of a wrestler in Iran, joining a chorus of shock and censure — including from the International Olympic Committee — against the killing. "The Iranian regime's execution of Navid Afkari is a vicious and cruel act. We condemn it in the strongest terms. It is an outrageous assault on human dignity, even by the despicable standards of this regime. The voices of the Iranian people will not be silenced," Pompeo tweeted. Protesters wave the Lion and Sun flag of the National Council of Resistance of Iran and the white flag of the People's Mujahedin of Iran, two Iranian opposition groups, with a placard depicting the crossed out face of Iran's President Hassan Rohani as they demonstrate outside the Iranian embassy in London against the execution of Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari. Iran's state TV is reporting that the country's authorities has executed the 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 on Saturday: "The retaliation sentence against Navid Afkari, the killer of Hassan Turkman, was carried out this morning in Adelabad prison in Shiraz." Human rights activist Mehdi Mahmudian, who is also a friend of the Afkari family, tweeted that Afkari was buried amid tight security in the southern village of Sangar. His parents were not allowed to attend the funeral. The International Olympic Committee said Saturday it was "shocked" by the news after its president Thomas Bach had made direct personal appeals in letters to the supreme leader and president of Iran this week and asked for mercy for Afkari. Amnesty International named the death sentence a "horrifying travesty of justice that needs immediate international action." — Agencies
