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The Islamic Republic of Iran’s judiciary on Thursday ignored a warning from the US State Department along with pleas from elite Iranian-American wrestlers not to execute 19-year-old wrestling champion Saleh Mohammadi for protesting against Khamenei’s regime.
Reports say Mohammadi was killed in a public hanging seen as a barbaric measure by the Iranian regime to quell 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 elite Iranian wrestling, told Pak Gazette Digital: “His execution was a blatant political assassination, part of the Islamic Republic’s pattern of targeting 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 said: “The IOC [International Olympic Committee] and U.W.W. [United World Wrestling] should have intervened forcefully with public ultimatums, threatening immediate suspension of Iran’s NOC [National Olympic Committee] and federations if the killing proceeded rather than relying on quiet and ineffective diplomacy, given their own commitments to protect athletes from politically motivated harm.” Both organizations issued statements after Pak Gazette Digital asked them for a response on Mohammadi’s death sentence.
Far called on wrestling authorities to take action, stating: “Iran should be banned from participating in international competitions until it stops executions of protesters and athletes, releases those imprisoned in sham trials, and ends retaliation against competitors who speak out or defect.”
Pak Gazette Digital sent new press inquiries to the IOC and UWW.
Iranians gather as they block a street during a protest in Tehran, Iran, on January 9, 2026. (MAHSA/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
Reactions to his death came in droves from Iranian commentators.
Alizreza Nader, an expert on Iran and the human rights situation in the country, told Pak Gazette Digital: “I feel very bad for him and his family. There should be a boycott of the regime when it comes to international sport. I am concerned about the individual athletes who will be affected by this, as athletes in Iran are enduring very harsh conditions, including some reported as virtual hostages by the regime. But there must be a high price for the regime for executing young men like this. There must be a deterrent.”
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Iranian-American activist Masih Alinejad wrote on
He added: “Three young protesters, Saleh Mohammadi, Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davoudi, were hanged in Qom after a sham trial. Reports indicate torture. Forced confessions. No access to chosen lawyers. Closed-door proceedings. No right to appeal. I call on @GlobalAthleteHQ to support Iranian athletes who are being silenced, imprisoned and executed simply for speaking out. It’s not just about of sports. It’s about human dignity.
Pak Gazette Digital reported in late January that the State Department’s official #SalehMohammadi #StopExecutionsInIran #HumanRights #IranProtest.”
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Elite Iranian American wrestlers told Pak Gazette Digital in February that Iran’s regime must end 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, along with Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston, the first American wrestler to win a medal in a world championship competition in 1989, urged the regime not to implement the targeted killing of athletes.
Pashaei told Fox Digital on Thursday that “My heart breaks for this young fighter. Anyone who still shows sympathy for the Islamic Republic should understand: this is just a small glimpse of their brutality.”
He added: “Before the Internet was shut down, I spoke to one of the coaches of Iran’s national wrestling team. He warned me that Saleh’s case was critical. We were both deeply concerned. I did everything I could (talk to the media, raise awareness) but I couldn’t save him. This regime is based on executions, fear and hatred. It doesn’t change. The International Olympic Committee and world sports bodies failed.”
Iran International reported that Iran’s regime hanged Mohammadi and two other Iranian men, Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davoudi, “after being accused of killing two police officers during nationwide protests earlier this year, the judiciary-linked Mizan news agency reported.”
A poster 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 on a road in Tehran on March 10, 2026. Iran marked the appointment of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his father as its supreme leader on the 9th of March. 2026. (AFP/Via Getty Images)
The three men allegedly attacked “two police officers with knives and swords during protests on January 8 in the holy city of Qom.”
Mohammadi won a bronze medal in September 2024 for Iran’s national wrestling at the Saytiyev International Cup in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
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The human rights organization Hengaw published footage of Mohammadi fighting. Hengaw wrote on
Pak Gazette Digital contacted the US State Department and Iran’s Mission to the UN in New York for comment.
