Navid Afkari was an Iranian citizen executed by hanging by the regime of the Islamic Republic Sept. 12, 2020. (Credit: Wikipedia )

By Gary Raynaldo        DIPLOMATIC TIMES

Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari, 27,  was executed by hanging earlier this month for murder, the Islamic Republic’s foreign minister declared Monday, rejecting assertions by international rights organizations the death sentence was from his participation in street protests.  Mohammed Javad Zarif,  foreign minister of Iran, made the claim while participating in a virtual address to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.   In addition to the controversial death sentence, Foreign Minister Zarif discussed Iranian relations with the United States, the future of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and prospects for peace in the Middle East.  Afkari was arrested in September 2018 on dozens of charges that include participation in illegal demonstrations, insulting Iran’s supreme leader, and murder of law enforcement agent during  a protest.  Many contend Afkari was tortured and coerced into confessing to murder. 

“He was not executed for participating in a demonstration but because of murder.  He went through a court proceeding on a murder charge. Many people participate in demonstrations, and none of them are executed. Those who commit crimes, including arson, including others, are punished, but not for participating in demonstrations.”

-Iran  Foreign Minister Zarif

Zarif said Iran has an independent judiciary and the government is not involved in the decision-making of the judiciary.  “In fact, judges in the judiciary have their own independence from the center of authority of the judiciary.”

Minister Zarif Accuses The U.S. Of Hypocrisy On Issue Of Capital Punishment in Iran

-Points Out Majority of U.S. Death Penalty Cases Involve Black American Defendants: 

“Capital punishment is in the Iranian criminal court, as it is in many of the United States’ states. And recently people have been executed in the United States. A gentleman was executed in Texas who was 18-year-old when he committed a crime. I don’t think anybody would ask Secretary Pompeo to explain that. The fact that in the United States the majority of capital punishment cases are involving Black defendants does not create any concern about the U.S. government from your point of view. It’s the judicial system. And since you refer to your own judicial system as an independent justice system and you wouldn’t ask—you wouldn’t be asking if you had a foreign reporter from Secretary Pompeo why Texas executed seven individuals, I think the same applies to Iran.”

Iran Minister Zarif

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif  (Wikipedia Commons)

-Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)

Iran will not renegotiate nuclear deal if Biden wins US presidency:  Zarif

Foreign Zarif said  that Tehran has no plans of renegotiating the 2015 nuclear deal that the U.S. withdrew from in 2018.  “The United States withdrew from JCPOA without any reason. It incurred a lot of damages on the Iranian people,” Zarif said.  “The United States has an extremely bad record. I think it is the United States that has to show that it’s committed to this deal—that it will not violate it again, that it will not make demands outside the scope of the deal, that it will compensate Iran for the damages.”

“I think the United States, whoever is the president, it’s not—it’s immaterial for us who sits in the White House. For us, what is important is how they behave. And the United States have behaved extremely irresponsibly, dangerously, in the international community. So it is up to the United States. It’s not my business that this president or the next president like their predecessor or don’t like their predecessor. It is the United States that has to act responsibly in the international community, which unfortunately it hasn’t.  The United States must first prove that it’s worthy of the trust that is required for its reentry into the deal, before it sets conditions.

-Iran Minister Zarif

 Normalization of relations between Israel, Bahrain, and  United Arab Emirates:

“This was—this was a show, for God’s sake. We all know that the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have had relations with Israel for the past fifteen years.  I don’t think Bahraini government ever had good relations with its population.  It’s a minority rule. This was—this was just a photo op for President Trump to get his vote up in certain states where he was in trouble. The message should be given by those who shout about democracy to the government of Bahrain, while it has been trampling the rights of its majority. I mean, this is the type of allies the United States and Israel have in the region.”

-Iran Minister Zarif

On SYRIA  War:

“I believe Syria does not have a military solution.  And this is not a new belief. When I assumed this office in 2013, I provided a four-point peace plan that included an immediate ceasefire and a broad-based, inclusive national unity government. Now, there were countries I this region who believed in a military solution, in Syria and in Yemen, as they believe in military solutions in Libya, in Somalia, in Sudan—everywhere. They believe in military solutions. In those places, Iran is not even involved. But you have conflicts there because there are countries—all of them U.S. allies—who believe in military solutions. Now, if they fail, it’s not our fault. It’s the fault of their doctrine, of believing that the victory is around the corner.”

Is Iran still seeking retribution for the U.S. targeting of General Qassem Soleimani?

“As far as General Soleimani is concerned, the United States made a great mistake of assassinating, in a clear terrorist way, somebody who was the number-one enemy of ISIS. General Soleimani was revered, not only in Iran but elsewhere. Again, the cognitive problem was that Secretary Pompeo, on the night of assassination of General Soleimani, put on his Twitter a clip of people dancing in Iraq, showing that people of Iraq were celebrating the death of Soleimani. And we saw the next morning that tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis came to the streets of various Iraqi cities mourning the killing of Soleimani. So Soleimani has a lot of people seeking revenge for this—for his murder. No, the books are not closed. President Trump ordered the assassination of a national hero for Iran, and a hero for the region. So the books are not closed. I’m not in the business of making threats, but the book is not closed.”

-Iran minister Zarif