Olympic Games

September 8, 2021 | Sardar Pashaei, Benjamin Weinthal, Alireza Nader

Why The Iranian Regime’s Murder Of A Champion Wrestler Matters

This Sunday, September 12, will mark one year since Iran’s clerical regime executed the champion Greco-Roman wrestler Navid Afkari for expressing opposition to the religious dictatorship in Iran. His...

August 4, 2021 | Benjamin Weinthal |

Iranian athletes at Tokyo Olympics remember murdered wrestler Navid Afkari

A defector from the Islamic Republic displayed a picture of Afkari attached to a flag: 'We’ll always commemorate him'

May 1, 2021 | Cleo Paskal |

Is Beijing Planning a Rob, Replicate, Replace Olympics?

The Olympics delivers to China’s door some of the most genetically blessed people on the planet. A February 2021 report by the US’ National Counterintelligence and Security Center described China’s...

April 18, 2021 | Cleo Paskal |

Athletes have good reason to beware Xi Jinping’s Beijing Winter Olympics

There are growing calls to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing or to ­relocate the event to a different nation. It isn’t hard to see why, given China’s aggression in the Indo-Pacific region, horrific...

March 9, 2021 | David May, Benjamin Weinthal

Olympics Needs to Uphold Ban on Iran’s Discrimination

The CAS ruling sends the wrong message to Tehran. The principles of the Olympic Charter and the lives of Iranian athletes ought to compel more than this.

March 6, 2021 | Benjamin Weinthal, Alireza Nader

Olympic sponsors must withdraw support if Iran is not banned

Excerpt In late January, the Islamic Republic executed a second young Iranian wrestler as part of its campaign against dissent. Mehdi Ali Husseini, who was just 29 years old, was killed only four months...

February 5, 2021 | Benjamin Weinthal |

Iran facing calls to be kicked out of Olympics after execution of boxer

The Islamic Republic of Iran imposed yet another extrajudicial death penalty on a champion athlete last week, sparking renewed calls from sports advocacy organizations for the regime to be banned from...

January 10, 2021 | Benjamin Weinthal |

Iran to execute 2nd wrestler, sparking outrage from US State Department

Execution of decorated wrestler Mehdi Ali Hosseini is imminent

December 21, 2020 | Hossein Khosrov Ali Vaziri, Benjamin Weinthal, Alireza Nader

The Olympics must ban Iran

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and United World Wrestling (UWW) — the global governing body for amateur wrestling—squandered a chance to save the life of Navid Afkari, the Iranian champion put...

October 6, 2020 | Benjamin Weinthal |

Olympics refuses to discuss Iranian regime’s murder of wrestler

Iron Sheik and former Iranian Olympian wrestler urges Olympics to take action against regime

September 9, 2020 | Benjamin Weinthal |

Azerbaijan MP tells ‘Post’ Iran must not execute wrestler

First politician from majority Shi’ite majority country to come out against Iran’s regime.

September 7, 2020 | Benjamin Weinthal |

British minister opposes death penalty for Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari

UK now joins US, Germany in urging Iran to stop execution of reportedly innocent wrestler.

September 3, 2020 | Benjamin Weinthal |

After ‘Post’ reports, Olympic Committee to probe Iranian wrestler’s execution

Iran plans to execute Navid Afkari for his peaceful protests against the mismanagement of the country

September 3, 2020 | Benjamin Weinthal |

Ex US intel head urges Olympics to probe Iran’s execution of wrestler

The former US acting director of national intelligence on Wednesday urged the organizers of the Olympics to intervene in the slated execution of an Iranian national champion wrestler.

September 1, 2020 | Benjamin Weinthal |

Iran imposes double execution on champion wrestler for peacefully protesting regime

Courts in the Iranian city of Shiraz slapped a champion wrestler with a shocking penalty of two death sentences and whipping for protesting in 2018 against the Islamic Republic of Iran’s disastrous...

June 4, 2020 | Trevor Logan |

NSA Report Attributing Malware to Russian Hacking Group Sandworm Signals That the Group Is Still Active

The National Security Agency (NSA) last week accused Sandworm Team, a Russian military hacking group, of ongoing efforts to target email servers around the world. The NSA’s attribution signals that Sandworm,...

March 4, 2020 | Clifford D. May |

Free Jimmy Lai

China’s rulers let loose a deadly virus and imprison a champion of human rights

May 28, 2019 | David May |

Fearing exclusion from Olympics, Iran ends its boycott of Israel — in judo, at least

With tensions mounting in the Middle East, Iranian and Israeli fighters could be facing off in the near future, much to the delight of the International Judo Federation, or IJF. After 40 years of boyc...

September 6, 2018 | Benjamin Weinthal

Why is Germany Silent on Corbyn’s Praise of Munich Terrorists?

The barn-burning revelations in the British newspaper Daily Mail in August that ...

February 23, 2018 | Mathew Ha

Treasury Sanctions Increase Pressure on North Korea’s Global Shipping Network

Today, the Treasury Department issued its “largest North Korea-related sanctions tranche to date” against 27 entitie...