Amir Reza Nasr Azadani ( fa, امیررضا نصرآزادانی; born 7 February 1996) is an Iranian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who last played as a defender for Persian Gulf Pro League club

Tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...

. He was sentenced to 26 years in prison in Iran following the protests in the country about the death of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran's morality police.

Imprisonment

Nasr Azadani was arrested in November 2022 during the Mahsa Amini protests, allegedly in connection with the deaths of a police officer and two

Basij The Basij ( fa, بسيج, lit. "The Mobilization"), Niru-ye Moghāvemat-e Basij ( fa, نیروی مقاومت بسیج, "Resistance Mobilization Force"), full name Sâzmân-e Basij-e Mostaz'afin ( fa, سازمان بسیج مستضعفین, "The ...

militia members. He was accused of ''

Moharebeh In Islamic law, ''hirabah'' is a legal category that comprises highway robbery (traditionally understood as aggravated robbery or grand larceny, unlike theft, which has a different punishment), rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually ...

'' ("Waging War Against God"), a crime punishable by death in Iran. The

Islamic Republic The term Islamic republic has been used in different ways. Some Muslim religious leaders have used it as the name for a theoretical form of Islamic theocratic government enforcing sharia, or laws compatible with sharia. The term has also been u ...

has executed two other Iranian men,

Mohsen Shekari Mohsen Shekari ( fa, محسن شکاری; 24 February 2000 – 8 December 2022) was a 22-year-old Iranian man who was executed by the state of Iran after being convicted of injuring a member of Iran's Basij militia and being accused of ''Mohar ...

and Majidreza Rahnavard, both charged with the same crime for their participation in the Mahsa Amini protests on 8 and 12 December 2022, respectively. Following his arrest, according to

IranWire Maziar Bahari ( fa, مازیار بهاری; born May 25, 1967) is an Iranian-Canadian journalist, filmmaker and human rights activist. He was a reporter for ''Newsweek'' from 1998 to 2011. Bahari was incarcerated by the Iranian government from Ju ...

, relatives reported being threatened: security forces allegedly said that if the family refused to keep Nasr Azadani's arrest quiet, then Nasr Azadani would be given the most severe sentence.

VoA Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

-affiliated

Polygraph.info Polygraph.info is a fact-checking website-aggregator produced by U.S. government-funded news organisations Voice of America (VoA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). The website also documents Russian disinformation and state-backed pr ...

expressed skepticism of the murder allegations against Nasr Azadani, given the Iranian state's alleged history of "sham trials", and given IranWire reports of alleged coercion. Iranian authorities stated the sentence was provisional "pending further investigation by a Revolutionary Court". Reacting to the news of the sentence on 12 December, FIFPRO, the world-wide union of footballers, said it was "shocked and sickened" and called for "immediate removal of his punishment". Nasr Azadani has been charged with rioting against authorities but no sentence has been issued yet and it remains unclear when his trial is set to begin. A petition to stop the execution was raised on the protest site

Change.org Change.org is a worldwide nonprofit petition website, based in California, US, operated by the San Francisco-based company of the same name, which has over 400 million users and offers the public the ability to promote the petitions they care abo ...

, and it has over 2 million signatures. On 9 January 2023, Nasr Azadani was sentenced to 26 years in prison, 16 for the crime of partaking in enmity against God, and 10 years for 2 other crimes committed during the protests.

Club career

Nasr Azadani joined

Rah Ahan Rah Ahan Sports Club ( fa, باشگاه ورزشی راه‌آهن, ''Bashgah-e Vârzeshi-ye Rahâhen''), commonly known as Rah Ahan Football Club, is an Iranian professional football club based in Tehran. They currently play in the Azadegan Leagu ...

in 2015, after spending his youth career at Sepahan. He played for the Persian Gulf Pro League with the Tractor team but has not played professionally since his last appearance in November 2017.

Career statistics

: ''Source'':

Honours

; Tractor *

Shohada Cup Shohada ( fa, شهدا) is the plural form of Shahid, meaning Martyr. It may refer to: * Shohada, Fars, a village in Iran * Shohada, Lorestan, a village in Iran * Shohada, Yazd, a village in Iran *Shohada Metro Station, in Tehran *Shohada Mosque, in ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nasr Azadani, Amir Reza 1996 births Living people Iranian men's footballers Footballers from Isfahan Sepahan S.C. footballers Tractor S.C. players Persian Gulf Pro League players Men's association football midfielders Men's association football fullbacks