Iran security forces on Friday blocked roads leading to the home village of executed wrestler Navid Afkari as mourners planned to gather to mark his passing, while in Tehran’s Laleh Park people laid flowers and lit candles to remember the 27-year-old sports champion.

According to social media users, security forces were deployed in Sangar village, 50 km from Shiraz, on Friday. A video of a helicopter flying over the hilly area has been widely shared on Twitter and other platforms.

Meanwhile, a small group of mourners gathered at Laleh Park in central Tehran on Friday to commemorate Afkari with flowers and candles. Twitter users posting photos and video clips of the ceremony at the park have said they shared nothing that might identify participants, presumably by their request in concern for their safety.

On Thursday Afkari’s family, who live in Shiraz, visited the cemetery in Sangar, where the wrestler was buried hastily and secretly by security forces on the evening of his execution, Saturday September 12. The family apparently followed the usual Iranian practice of visiting the grave of a loved ones on a Thursday but then kept away from the village on Friday despite the traditional graveside ceremony on the seventh day after burial.

Although the Afkari family had made no announcement of their intention to visit the cemetery on Thursday, dozens of locals and others gathered to express support and commiserations. Participants chanted ‘Navid is a Hero’ and sang ‘O my Iran,’ a patriotic song often heard at anti-government protests.

Afkari’s family had taken to the village the young man’s car, decorated with flowers to symbolize a wedding he would never enjoy. A video posted on Twitter shows Afkari’s mother and others clapping and chanting, “Congratulations on Your Martyrdom, [Our Hero].” 

Afkari was hanged in secret at Adelabad Prison, Shiraz, after being convicted of killing a state security agent during anti-government protests in Shiraz in 2018. Afkari confessed to stabbing the agent during interrogation by Shiraz Criminal Investigation Police (SCIP) but later retracted his confession, saying he had been severely tortured, physically and psychologically.

The Afkari family maintain that the young wrestlers’ two brothers, Habib and Vahid, were tortured to testify against him. Both brothers are serving long prison terms for participation in the same protests and Vahid reportedly attempted suicide in prison.

The court that sentenced Afkari to death refused to allow testimony from a witness, Shahin Salehi, who said he had witnessed Afkari being tortured by SCIP officers. Just before Afkari’s execution on Saturday, Salehi, who is in Adelabad Prison serving a sentence for participation in anti-government protests, was removed from his prison ward by SCIP.

In an audio recording sent to Iran International TV and broadcast on Friday evening, Salehi had confirmed that he had witnessed Afkari being beaten by SCIP officers.

In reaching its judgement, the court accepted the testimony of another prisoner, Saeed Arjoman-Dashtaki, that was unfavorable to Afkari. Arjomand-Dashtaki later retracted his statement in an officially certified document, saying he had made it under duress.

Iran’s Supreme Court confirmed the lower court’s death sentence against Afkari at the end of August.