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Saleh Mohammadi (File photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
Iran, March 19, 2026
Olympians speak out against Iran’s public execution of champion wrestler Saleh Mohammadi
Original source
The execution of Iranian wrestling star Saleh Mohammadi left the sports world mourning Thursday.
Iran's regime executed the 19-year-old man on Thursday. Mohammadi was reportedly killed in a public hanging, according to Iranian American human rights activists and dissidents.
Iran International reported that Iran’s regime hanged Mohammadi and two additional Iranian men, Mehdi Ghasemiand and Saeed Davoudi, "after being accused of killing two police officers during nationwide protests earlier this year," the judiciary-linked Mizan news agency reported.
Multiple Olympians have shared their reactions to the execution with Fox News Digital.
Brandon Slay, Olympic gold medal wrestler at Sydney 2000
"As someone who has traveled to Iran for wrestling twice and welcomed Iranian athletes into our country, I’ve seen firsthand the dignity and heart of the Iranian people. That’s why it’s so heartbreaking to witness a terror regime execute a teenage wrestler," Slay told Fox News Digital...
Tyler Clary, US gold medal swimmer at London 2012
"As an Olympic gold medalist, I’ve spent my life around athletes who represent the very best of human discipline and freedom. What we’re seeing in Iran — the execution of a wrestler after what appears to be a sham process — is a brutal reminder of what that regime stands for. This is exactly why strong leadership matters," Clary told Fox News Digital.
"President Trump has been clear-eyed about the nature of this regime and the need to stand up to it, and moments like this prove why that approach is necessary."...
Sardar Pashaei, Iran youth world champion wrestler (non-Olympian)
"This is only a glimpse of the regime’s brutality. A regime that kills its own people and now publicly executes a teenage athlete. For nearly 50 years, some politicians have tried to moderate this regime. They still don’t understand it. We do. We have lived under it. We carry its scars," Pashaei told Fox News Digital.
"Iranian sport is no longer in the hands of athletes. It is controlled by the Revolutionary Guards, the same forces that suppress women, intimidate athletes abroad and threaten their families.
"Others are still at risk, and there is still time to save them. The world must act now. Saleh’s only ‘crime’ was protest. He went to the streets for freedom, for a future where protest is not a crime, where executions do not exist and where people are not held hostage by their own government."
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