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world news Dialuna 7 September 2020

Iran airs televised confession of wrestler after Trump tweet

By JON GAMBRELL The package also showed
Associated Press footage of Afkari on the back
DUBAI, United Arab of a motorbike, saying he
Emirates (AP) — Iran, had stabbed Torkaman in the
which has a history of broad- back, without explaining why
casting suspected forced con- he allegedly carried out the
fessions, aired a statement assault. The state TV seg-
by a wrestler who faces the ment showed blurred police
death penalty and whose documents and described the
case recently drew a critical killing as a "personal dispute,"
tweet from President Donald without elaborating. It said
Trump. Afkari's cellphone had been
The television segment and in the area. It showed surveil-
authorities accuse Navid lance footage of him walking
Afkari, 27, of stabbing a water down a street, talking on his
supply company employee in phone.
the southern city of Shiraz The footage resembled what
amid demonstrations against one report has described as
Iran's Shiite theocracy in the at-least 355 coerced con-
2018. fessions aired by Iranian state
Afkari's case has drawn the television over the last de-
attention of a social media cade.
campaign that portrays him Those supporting Afkari also
and his brothers as victims have accused police of tortur-
targeted over participating in ing a confession out of him
those protests. In this June 25, 2018 file photo, a group of protesters chant slogans at the main gate of the Old after finding the surveillance
His case has also revived a Grand Bazaar, in Tehran, Iran. footage. That comes after a
demand inside the country Associated Press United Nations special rap-
that Iran, one of the world's porteur in a recent report
top executioners, stop carry- economy and spiraled into the president of the mixed "Thank you!" wrote about a "widespread
ing out the death penalty. direct calls for the overthrow martial arts competition Trump has imposed crush- pattern of officials using tor-
Even imprisoned Iranian Iran's theocracy. Such unrest called the Ultimate Fighting ing sanctions on Iran after ture to extract false confes-
human rights lawyer Nasrin has continued sporadically in Championship. unilaterally withdrawing the sions" from those protesting
Sotoudeh, herself nearly a Iran in the time since, with "He went to a peaceful pro- United States from the nu- Iran's government.
month into a hunger strike authorities arresting thou- test in Iran and he's going to clear deal that Tehran struck "Three separate detainees
over conditions at Tehran's sands of people. be executed for that," White with world powers. That de- from the cities of Tehran,
Evin prison amid the coro- Afkari had local fame as a said in a video Friday. "He's cision led to Iran breaking all Tabriz and Ahvaz all made
navirus pandemic, has passed wrestler, a popular sport in one of us. He could be any of the limits of the deal, as well similar allegations that inter-
word that she supports Iran. A provincial court in my fighters." as a series of attacks across rogators physically assaulted
Afkari. Shiraz sentenced Afkari to White said he spoke to the Mideast that America has them, including by hand,
Afkari and his brothers were death and his brothers Va- Trump, who had earlier blamed on Tehran. Later Sat- with batons and with electric
employed as construction hid Afkari and Habib Afkari tweeted out his own concern urday night, Iran responded shocks, and that interrogators
workers in Shiraz, a city some to 54 and 27 years in prison, about Afkari's case. to Trump's tweet with a near- tried to force them to con-
680 kilometers (420 miles) respectively, over the slaying. "To the leaders of Iran, I ly 11-minute state TV pack- fess that entities outside the
south of the capital, Tehran. Afkari's case has drawn the would greatly appreciate if age on Afkari. It included the Islamic Republic of Iran had
All three took part in demon- attention of an online cam- you would spare this young weeping parents of the slain incited the protests," special
strations in 2018 that began paign that's included a video man's life, and not execute water company employee, rapporteur Javaid Rehman
in anger over Iran's cratering statement from Dana White, him," Trump wrote Friday. Hassan Torkaman. wrote. q

Beirut search effort sparked by dog stops, no survivor found

BEIRUT (AP) — A search people made homeless by Lebanese.
operation of a building the impact of the explosion The head of the Chilean
that collapsed during last on apartment buildings. team, Francisco Lermanda,
month’s deadly blast in Bei- The latest rescue operation told journalists at the scene
rut stopped on Sunday after began Thursday when a dog late Saturday they had not
rescue workers said they did used by a Chilean search- found any bodies amid the
not find any survivors. and-rescue team signaled rubble. Lermanda said the
The operation in the his- the detection of a possible pulsing signals heard might
toric Mar Mikhail district human pulse under the rub- have come from of a mem-
had gripped Lebanon since ble of a collapsed building ber of the rescue team.
Thursday, sparking hope during a tour of streets in the In past days, the Chilean
that a survivor might be area. Rescue workers used team had urged people on
found under the rubble a cranes, shovels and their the streets, including jour-
month after the blast on Aug. bare hands in a meticulous nalists, to turn off their
4 that killed 191 people and search after a pulsing signal mobile phones and remain
wounded nearly 6,500. Sev- was then detected by a de- quiet for several minutes at
en people remain missing. vice. The black-and-white a time to avoid interfering Rescuers search at the site of a collapsed building after getting
The devastating explosion 5-year-old dog named Flash with their instruments. signals there may be a survivor under the rubble, in Beirut,
of nearly 3,000 tons of am- inspected the building sev- Lermanda said they will Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2020.
monium nitrate at the port eral times a day as aid work- search a sidewalk after which Associated Press
of Beirut caused widespread ers removed debris. they will declare the opera-
damage to several neighbor- Photos of Flash, in red shoes tion over. It was not clear if sion, a French rescue team bar on the ground floor. At
hoods. The Lebanese capital to protect its paws, circulat- a search for bodies would and Lebanese civil defense the time, they had no reason
is still reeling from the blast, ed on social media and the continue. volunteers had searched the to believe anyone was still at
with a quarter of a million dog became a hero to many Two days after the explo- same building, which had a the site.q