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The Islamic Republic of Iran’s justice system on Thursday ignored a warning from the US State Department as well as calls from elite Iranian-American wrestlers not to execute 19-year-old wrestling champion Saleh Mohammadi for protesting against Khamenei’s regime.
Reports indicate that Mohammadi was killed in a public hanging, seen as a barbaric measure by the Iranian regime aimed at stifling the ongoing movement seeking to overthrow him, according to Iranian-American human rights activists and dissidents.
Iranian human rights activist and combat athlete Nima Far, an expert on Iranian elite wrestling, told PK Press Club Digital: “His execution was a blatant political killing, part of the Islamic Republic’s strategy to target athletes to crush dissent and terrorize society, as seen with Navid Afkari and others executed despite international outcry.” »
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Wrestling champion Saleh Mohammadi faces imminent execution in Iran for taking part in a protest as international pressure mounts to save the athlete. (The Foreign Office)
He declared: “The IOC [International Olympic Committee] and UWW [United World Wrestling] should have intervened forcefully with public ultimatums, threatening to immediately suspend the Iranian NOC [National Olympic Committee] and federations if the killing took place rather than relying on discreet and ineffective diplomacy, given their own commitments to protecting athletes from politically motivated harm. Both organizations released statements after being asked to respond by PK Press Club Digital to Mohammadi’s death sentence.
Far called on wrestling authorities to act, saying: “Iran must be banned from international competitions until it stops executions of protesters and athletes, releases those imprisoned in sham trials, and ends reprisals against competitors who speak out or defect.” »
PK Press Club Digital has sent further press requests to the IOC and UWW.
Iranians gather by blocking a street during a protest in Tehran, Iran, January 9, 2026. (MAHSA/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
Reactions to his death poured in from Iranian commentators.
Alizreza Nader, an expert on Iran and the human rights situation in the country, told PK Press Club Digital: “I feel very bad for him and his family. There should be a boycott of the regime when it comes to international sport.
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Iranian-American activist Masih Alinejad wrote on After signaling to the world, including President @realDonaldTrump, that he would stop the executions of protesters, the regime did the exact opposite.
She added: “Three young protesters, Saleh Mohammadi, Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davoudi, were hanged in Qom after a mock trial. Reports indicate torture. sports. It is about human dignity.
PK Press Club Digital reported in late January that the State Department’s official X-account in Farsi wrote: “The United States is deeply concerned by reports that 19-year-old wrestling champion Saleh Mohammadi faces imminent execution.” #StopExecutionsInIran #HumanRights #IranProtest.”
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Elite Iranian-American wrestlers told PK Press Club Digital in February that the Iranian regime must stop executions of athletes. Sardar Pashaei, who won a world championship title in Greco-Roman wrestling for Iran and coached the country’s elite Greco-Roman team, alongside Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston, the first American wrestler to win a medal at the world championships in 1989, urged the regime not to implement targeted killings of athletes.
Pashaei told Fox Digital on Thursday: “My heart is broken for this young wrestler. Anyone who still shows sympathy for the Islamic Republic should understand: this is just a small glimpse of its brutality.”
He added: “Before the internet shutdown, I spoke with one of the coaches of the Iranian national wrestling team. He warned me that Saleh’s case was critical. We were both deeply worried. I did everything I could – talking to the media, raising awareness – but I couldn’t save him.
Iran International reported that the Iranian regime hanged Mohammadi and two other Iranian men, Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davoudi, “after they were accused of killing two police officers during nationwide protests earlier this year, the judiciary-linked Mizan news agency reported.”
A billboard depicting Iran’s supreme leaders since 1979: (left to right) Ayatollahs Ruhollah Khomeini (until 1989), Ali Khamenei (until 2026) and Mojtaba Khamenei (incumbent) is displayed above a highway in Tehran on March 10, 2026. Iran marked the appointment of the Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to replace her father as supreme leader. on March 9, 2026. (AFP/Via Getty Images)
The three men allegedly attacked “two police officers with knives and swords during the January 8 protests in the holy city of Qom.”
Mohammadi won a bronze medal in September 2024 for Iranian national freestyle wrestling at the Saytiyev International Cup in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
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The Hengaw Human Rights Organization published images of Mohammadi’s struggle. Hengaw wrote on Mohammadi had previously shared this video on his Instagram page, documenting his sporting journey and his efforts to succeed.
PK Press Club Digital has contacted the US State Department and the Iranian mission to the UN in New York for comment.
