The Iron Sheik, who is a world-famous retired professional wrestler, issued a second tweet: "IOC PRESIDENT THOMAS BACH @Olympics @iocmedia YOU NEED TO HELP ME TEACH THE WORLD ABOUT THE IRAN SANCTION ON THE CHAMPION WRESTLER NAVID AFKARI.”AS FORMER OLYMPIC WRESTLER I DEMAND THE THOMAS BACH IOC PRESIDENT OF THE @Olympics @iocmedia YOU INCLUDE THE CASE OF THE IRANIAN REGIME MURDER OF INNOCENT CHAMPION THE NAVID AFKARI FOR TOMORROW AGENDA AND SANCTION IRAN’S REGIME
— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) October 6, 2020
The Iranian journalist and women’s rights activist Masih Alinejad tweeted: “Dear athletes of Iran & the world! Break your silence. 2 of Navid Afkari’s brothers are in jail. Their mother is in pain. Torture, Forced confessions & executions. Enough is enough. This apartheid regime must be judged in the Court of justice [and] not be invited to sports tournaments.”THE NATIONAL Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI) issued a letter to the IOC urging Bach to sanction Iran’s regime, citing two precedents: The IOC sanctioned the racist South African regime during the apartheid period, as well as Afghanistan when the country was controlled by the radical Islamic terrorist movement, the Taliban.“The Islamic Republic of Iran is as racist as the Apartheid regime and as misogynistic as the Taliban," NUFDI wrote.NUFDI added that "the IOC has nonetheless refused to take any tangible steps to punish this regime. It is still standing by the oppressors, and against the people of Iran. The IOC must add the discussion of banning the Islamic Republic in Iran from the Olympics to its agenda."The Iranian-American human rights advocate and writer Mariam Memarsadeghi tweeted: “A champion wrestler--hero--was executed because he dared protest for a better life. This is an absolute violation of the Olympic Charter. If @iocmedia @Olympics doesn't consider this worthy [of] its attention, exactly what is its mandate & why does the Charter even exist? #NavidAfkari.”The IOC condemned the September 12 Iranian regime execution of Afkari but said it did not wish to violate the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran by sanctioning the regime over it.IOC PRESIDENT THOMAS BACH @Olympics @iocmedia YOU NEED TO HELP ME TEACH THE WORLD ABOUT THE IRAN SANCTION ON THE CHAMPION WRESTLER NAVID AFKARI
— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) October 6, 2020
In response to a Post query about the German Green Party’s alleged appeasement toward the Iranian regime, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Los Angeles-based human rights organization Simon Wiesenthal Center, said that "Green Parties should be helping expand the growing circle of peace between Arabs and Jews, not abetting would be genociders [sic] like Ayatollah Khamenei – especially Germans. Not too late to urge snapback against ruthless Iranian regime that executes its own innocent citizens."
Green Party foreign policy spokesman and MP Omid Nouripour, who has been accused of supporting the reportedly antisemitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel, refused to respond about the whether the IOC should sanction Tehran's regime.
Volker Beck, a former Green Party MP, refused to urge his party to call on the IOC to sanction Iran’s clerical regime. Cooper’s criticism included Beck’s alleged silence about his party’s alleged pro-Iranian regime policies.US State Department officials have declared Iran's regime the top state-sponsor of terrorism and antisemitism.