The Iranian sports stars being arrested, jailed and executed as anti-government protests continue
Iranian sports stars have been arrested, sentenced to death and executed as authorities continue to brutally clamp down on protests.
Human rights organisations say the regime is trying to “make an example” of athletes, some of whom have taken part in demonstrations or shown solidarity through acts of defiance abroad.
The recent execution of karate champion Mohammad Mehdi Karami and 16 years in prison for footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani are just two of the latest punishments handed out to sporting figures.
Protests have rocked Iran for several months following the death of Mahsa Amini while in custody of the morality police.
Ms Amini, who was 22, is being held up as a symbol and rallying cry for change, while the regime’s heavy-handed response has seen the deaths of at least 519 protesters, according to the activist HRANA news agency.
Nina Navid, Amnesty International UK’s Iran campaigner, said the regime’s crackdown via sport “isn’t surprising”.
She told Sky News: “It was always likely that the Iranian authorities would try to make an example of prominent sporting figures supporting the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests, and that seems to be exactly what’s happening.
“At the World Cup, Iranian fans who expressed support for protesters back in Iran were intimidated by pro-government fans, very likely with official backing, while family members of the national team were reportedly warned they faced arrest and torture if the players dared to repeat their boycott of the national anthem after the first game against England.”
According to Human Rights Activists in Iran, an NGO based in the US, some 36 athletes have been arrested amid the demonstrations over the past several months.
“While some have directly participated in street protests, others have shown solidarity through acts of defiance abroad,” Skylar Thompson, head of global advocacy for HRA, told Sky News.
“Top athletes have the power through a global voice to bring the world together around a common cause and, if used deliberately and intentionally, that power can move mountains.”
Mohammad Mehdi Karami
A former national karate champion, he was reportedly accused of killing a member of the Basij paramilitary during a protest in Karaj, near Tehran.
The Basij have been working to suppress the protests, attacking and detaining demonstrators.
Human rights group Amnesty International said his trial “bore no resemblance to a meaningful judicial proceeding”.
He was executed on Saturday.
Mohammad Mehdi Karami was executed in January 2022
Amir Nasr-Azadani
Iranian premier league footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani was sentenced to 16 years in prison for taking part in the nationwide protests, local media reported.
The 26-year-old was found guilty of “partaking in enmity against God” in relation to the killing of three security officers in the city of Isfahan on 16 November, according to Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Local news reports suggested his confession was coerced, with members of his family ordered to stay silent.
Footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani
Sahand Nour-Mohammadzadeh
A 26-year-old bodybuilder, Sahand Nour-Mohammadzadeh has been sentenced to death on the charge of “waging war” for alleged acts of arson and destruction of public property after being arrested in October.
According to the Centre for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), Mr Nour-Mohammadzadeh said in an audio file released after his detention that he was told he was going to be executed the moment he was arrested, and that the only evidence presented in his trial was a video showing him moving the guardrail in a street during a protest.
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Marjan Jangjou
Rock climber Marjan Jangjou has been missing since she was arrested in her home in November for her alleged participation in street protests, it has been reported.
“Some of Marjan’s friends have been looking for her in places she frequented as well as in cemeteries in Shiraz to check unmarked graves hoping to find traces of her,” a source told CHRI.
Sara Khadem
Iranian chess player Sara Khadem took part in a tournament in the Kazakh city of Almaty last week and was pictured without a head covering, which is mandatory in Iran.
She was warned not to return home, according to a source close to her, and has since arrived in Spain.
Newspapers including Spain’s El Pais reported last week that Ms Khadem was planning to relocate to the country.
Sara Khadem flew to Spain after appearing at a chess tournament without a hijab
Elnaz Rekabi
Climber Elnaz Rekabi received attention in the early days of the Mahsa Amini protests after competing without a hijab at an event in South Korea.
After receiving a hero’s welcome on her return to Iran, she told a state TV reporter that it was “completely unintentional”.
“I was unexpectedly called and I had to compete. I was busy putting on my shoes and technical gear and that caused me to forget putting on the hijab I had to be wearing. Then I went to compete.”
Asked about rumours that no one knew her whereabouts for between 24 and 48 hours, Ms Rekabi replied: “No. This didn’t happen. We came back to Iran according to the plan. Until this moment everything has been going on according to the plan.”
Climber Elnaz Rekabi
Ali Daei
Iran’s all-time leading international goalscorer Ali Daei has been among those criticising the regime’s crackdown on demonstrators.
The former footballer said his wife and daughter were questioned by officials after a flight they were on was diverted.
On social media, Mr Daei had urged the government to “solve the problems of the Iranian people rather than using repression, violence and arrests”.
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The COP29 climate talks have reached a last ditch deal on cash for developing countries, pulling the summit back from the brink of collapse after a group of countries stormed out of a negotiating room earlier.
The slew of deals finally signed off in the small hours of Sunday morning in Azerbaijan includes one that proved hardest of all – one about money.
Eventually the more than 190 countries in Baku agreed a target for richer polluting countries such as the UK, EU and Japan to drum up $300bn a year by 2035 to help poorer nations both curb and adapt to climate change.
It is a far cry from the $1.3trn experts say is needed, and from the $500bn that vulnerable countries like Uganda had said they would be willing to accept.
But in the end they were forced to, knowing they could not afford to live without it, nor wait until next year to try again, when a Donald Trump presidency would make things even harder.
Bolivia’s lead negotiator Diego Pacheco called it an “insult”, while the Marshall Islands’ Tina Stege said it was “not nearly enough, but it’s a start”.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell said: “This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country.
“No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work still to do. So this is no time for victory laps.”
The funding deal was clinched more than 24 hours into overtime, and against what felt like all the odds.
The talks were rocked from the start by the incoming presidency of climate denier Mr Trump, the moment Argentina’s team were recalled back to Buenos Aires by their right-wing president and a controversial letter that sent shockwaves through the United Nations.
Pic: AP
The fraught two weeks of negotiations pitted the anger of developing countries who are footing the bill for more dangerous weather that they did little to cause, against the tight public finances of rich countries.
A relieved Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, climate envoy for Panama, said there is “light at the end of the tunnel”.
Just hours ago, the talks almost fell apart as furious vulnerable nations stormed out of negotiations in frustration over that elusive funding goal.
They were also angry with oil and gas producing countries, who stood accused of trying to dilute aspects of the deal on cutting fossil fuels.
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Climate-vulnerable nations storm out of talks
The UN talks work on consensus, meaning everyone has to agree for a deal to fly.
A row over how to follow up on last year’s pledge to “transition away from fossil fuels” was left unresolved and punted into next year, following objections from Chile and Switzerland for being too weak.
A draft deal simply “reaffirmed” the commitment but did not dial up the pressure in the way the UK, EU, island states and many others here wanted.
Saudi Arabia fought the hardest against any step forward on cutting fossil fuels, the primary cause of climate change that is intensifying floods, drought and fires around the world.
Governments did manage to strike a deal on carbon markets at COP29, which has been 10 years in the making and will allow countries to trade emissions cuts.
‘Not everything we wanted’
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The UK’s energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said the deal is “not everything we or others wanted”, but described it as a “step forward”.
“It’s a deal that will drive forward the clean energy transition, which is essential for jobs and growth in Britain and for protecting us all against the worsening climate crisis,” he added.
“Today’s agreement sends the signal that the clean energy transition is unstoppable.
“It is the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century and through our championing of it we can help crowd in private investment.”
Protesters at the summit in Baku. Pic: AP
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The Azerbaijan team leading COP29 said: “Every hour of the day, we have pulled people together. Every inch of the way, we have pushed for the highest common denominator.
“We have faced geopolitical headwinds and made every effort to be an honest broker for all sides.”
At least 20 people have been killed and 66 injured in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.
Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dig through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.
The attack destroyed an eight-storey residential building and badly damaged several others around it in the Basta neighbourhood at 4am (2am UK time) on Saturday.
The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut
The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack and has not commented on the casualties.
At least four bombs were dropped in the attack – the fourth targeting the city centre this week.
A separate drone strike in the southern port city of Tyre this morning killed two people and injured three, according to the state-run National News Agency.
The victims were Palestinian refugees from the nearby al Rashidieh camp who were out fishing, according to Mohammed Bikai, spokesperson for the Fatah Palestinian faction in the Tyre area.
Israel’s military warned residents today in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs that they were near Hezbollah facilities, which the army would target in the near future. The warning, posted on X, told people to evacuate at least 500 metres away.
The army said that over the past day it had conducted intelligence-based strikes on Hezbollah targets in Dahiyeh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. It said it hit several command centres and weapons storage facilities.
Pic: AP
Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.
Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.
According to the Lebanese health ministry, at least 3,670 people have been killed in Israeli attacks there, with more than 15,400 wounded.
It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.
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‘Dozens’ of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike
Meanwhile, six people, including three children and two women, were killed in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis.
Some 44,176 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage.
US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.
Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.
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