Iran denies that soccer player Amir Nasr Azadani has been sentenced to death

MADRID, 20 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Government of Iran has denied this Monday that the soccer player Amir Nasr Azadani has been sentenced to death for participating in the anti-government protests.

"False news about the death sentence of an Iranian soccer player," the Iranian Embassy in Colombia has indicated, after Colombian President Gustavo Petro urged Iran "not to kill" his soccer player.

"Very good for Messi, and for the Argentine people. And that Iran does not kill football," Petro wrote in a message through his profile on the social network Twitter.

After that, the Iranian Diplomacy office in Colombia has reacted, criticizing a "hybrid war" in which "the 'fake news' campaign continues."

"The trial has not yet taken place. Therefore, the news of the death penalty is a pure lie," said the Embassy, ​​which explained that Azadani is the fifth defendant in a criminal case for allegedly belonging to a group gun that would have killed three police officers and security agents with automatic weapons.

The International Federation of Associations of Professional Soccer Players (FIFPRO) confirmed last Tuesday that the Iranian soccer player had been sentenced to death for supporting the protests.

"FIFPRO is shocked and disgusted by reports that professional footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani faces execution in Iran after campaigning for women's rights and basic freedoms in his country. We stand in solidarity with Amir and call for the immediate removal of their punishment," the union said in a statement.

Former Rah-Ahan, Tractor and Gol-e player Rayhan, 26, was charged by the Iranian regime with a crime called 'moharebeh', meaning 'enmity with God'. This crime entails execution by hanging, a penalty already suffered by the young Mohsen Shekari and the wrestler Majid Reza Rahnavard, hanged in public in Mashad on the same charges as Amir Nasr-Azadani, after an unfair trial.