Audio reveals Navid Afkari had no clues about his execution.
A two-minute audio recording of Navid Afkari’s last phone call, circulated on social media on Monday, September 14, shows that he had no information about his imminent execution.
According to the published information, Navid Afkari called his brother at 11:23 pm on Friday, September 11.
In the phone call, Navid Afkari says that he and his two other brothers, who were held in the basement of Adelabad prison in Shiraz, were told that they would be transferred to Tehran on Saturday morning, September 12.
The 27-year-old protester explained that he and his two brothers, Vahid and Habib, were examined by the forensics office for signs of torture. He told his brother that “About 10-15 areas (on our bodies) were injured and they wrote it all down.”
In his phone call, Navid Afkari also refers to Khadem al-Hosseini, the head of the prison guard, as a man who beat him along with several soldiers.
Earlier, the state media quoted the director general of forensic medicine in Fars province as saying that Navid Afkari was examined by forensic on September 9 and that “no signs of physical abuse (torture) such as burns, scarring, bone fractures, etc. were observed.”
In another part of the phone call, Navid Afkari says it is not clear to which prison they will be transferred. “God willing everything will turn out okay,” he says.
He sends a message to his family that they should not be worried. “Don’t worry at all about my spirit (emotional state).”
Mr. Afkari’s remarks in this conversation shows that he did not have any clues about the implementation of the verdict. The circumstances seemed normal until Friday night, September 11.
The Iranian champion wrestler Navid Afkari was hastily hanged at dawn on Saturday despite a high-profile international campaign calling for cancelation of the death penalty.
He was subsequently buried under tight security measures that night.
Meanwhile, there are reports that the wrestling champion Navid Afkari was not executed and was killed under torture. Though these reports cannot be confirmed, eyewitnesses who saw Navid’s face said that his nose was broken. Reports also indicate that his family was not allowed to see his body after his death and before being buried.
