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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 champion wrestler Saleh Mohammadi for protesting the Khamenei regime.
Reports say Mohammadi was killed in a public hanging that was seen as a barbaric move by the Iranian regime to fend off the ongoing movement trying to topple it, according to Iranian-American human rights activists and dissidents.
Nima Far, a human rights activist and Iranian combat athlete who is an expert on Iranian elite wrestling, told Pakinomist 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 protests as international pressure mounts to save the athlete. (The Foreign Desk)
He said: “IOC [International Olympic Committee] and UWW [United World Wrestling] should have intervened forcefully with public ultimatums and threats of immediate suspension of Iran’s NOC [National Olympic Committee] and federations if the killing continued rather than relying on ineffective quiet diplomacy given their own obligations to protect athletes from politically motivated harm.” Both organizations issued statements after being asked for a response by Pakinomist Digital following Mohammadi’s death sentence.
Calling on wrestling authorities to take action, Father said: “Iran must be banned from international competition until it halts executions of protesters and athletes, releases those imprisoned in sham trials, and stops retaliation against competitors who speak out or defect.”
Pakinomist 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 poured in from Iranian commentators.
Alizreza Nader, an expert on Iran and the human rights situation in the country, told Pakinomist Digital: “I feel very sorry for him and his family. There should be a boycott of the regime when it comes to international sports. I worry about individual athletes who will be affected by this, as athletes in Iran face very harsh conditions, including some of the regime to be reported as a virtual hostage, but the young regime to be executed as a virtual hostage. People like this. There has to be a deterrent effect.”
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Iranian-American activist Masih Alinejad wrote on X: “Today, in Iran, in the midst of a war, the regime executed a 19-year-old national wrestling champion for the crime of participating in January protests. After signaling to the world, including President @realDonaldTrump, that they would stop the exact executions of protesters.”
She added: “Three young protesters, Saleh Mohammadi, Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davoudi, were hanged in Qom after a sham trial. Reports suggest torture. Forced confessions. No access to selected lawyers. Closed trials. No right to appeal. I call on @GlobalAthlete to stand with Iranian jailed and executed simply for raising their voices. This is not just about sports.
Pakinomist Digital reported in late January that the official X account of the State Department in Farsi wrote: “The United States is deeply concerned by reports that 19-year-old wrestling champion Saleh Mohammadi faces imminent execution. The regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran is massacring young people and destroying Iran’s future. We call on them to sentence the Iranian Modham regime to stop the Sale Modham regime. to death for exercising their fundamental rights.” #SalehMohammadi #StopExecutionsInIran #HumanRights #IranProtest.”
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Elite Iranian-American wrestlers told Pakinomist Digital in February that Iran’s regime must end executions of athletes. Sardar Pashaei, who won a Greco-Roman wrestling world championship title for Iran and coached the country’s elite Greco-Roman team, along with Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston, the first American female wrestler to win a medal in world championship competition in 1989, urged the regime not to carry out the targeted killing of athletes.
Pashaei told Fox Digital on Thursday that “My heart is broken for this young wrestler. Anyone who still shows sympathy for the Islamic Republic should understand – this is just a small glimpse of its 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 – spoke to the media, raised awareness – but I could not save him. This regime is built on executions, the International Sports Committee does not fail and the Global Sports Committee does not fail.”
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-related Mizan news agency reported.”
A billboard depicting Iran’s supreme leaders since 1979: (L to R) Ayatollahs Ruhollah Khomeini (until 1989), Ali Khamenei (until 2026) and Mojtaba Khamenei (seated) is displayed above a highway in Tehran on March 10, 26, 26, Iran. Mojtaba Khamenei will replace his father as its Supreme Leader on March 9, 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 freestyle wrestling at the Saytiyev International Cup in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
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The Hengaw human rights organization posted wrestling footage of Mohammadi. Hengaw wrote on X: “Football shows Saleh Mohammadi, a 19-year-old athlete and member of Iran’s national wrestling team, who was secretly executed in the early hours of Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Qom Central Prison on charges of ‘enmity against God’ (moharebeh had previously documented this video on his Instagram and shared his journey on his Instagram). effort for success.”
Pakinomist Digital reached out to the US State Department and Iran’s UN mission in New York for comment.
