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PaperclipPerfector  9d ago (text post)   1135 thread views

Transnational Thursday for March 19, 2026

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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https://nypost.com/2026/03/19/world-news/iran-executes-19-year-old-champion-wrestler-saleh-mohammadi-two-others/

Iran executes 19-year-old champion wrestler Saleh Mohammadi, two others in horrific public hangings

I personally think that once US has air domination - it would be good PR if they go after the judiciary. A good assignation campaign and couple of blown courthouses will actually win hearts and minds.

Context: Saleh Mohammadi was executed for demanding democracy by way of killing police officers.

It is understandable that US media downplay this aspect, they do not want to remind #AbolishThePolice folx that they are just LARPers. This would make them very sad.

You are repeating the claims of Iranian prosecution as if it were an established and indisputable facts. Are you sure it's smart to do that?

If Iranian authorities want to kill someone, they do not need to fabricate evidence (including CCTV footage) against him. They can just do it.

If Saleh Mohammadi is really heroic freedom fighter who sacrificed his life for democracy, are you sure you want to insult him by calling him innocent victim who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time?

If Iranian authorities want to kill someone, they do not need to fabricate evidence

Yet the experience with most totalitarian regimes suggests they do. Stalin could execute anyone anytime, from a lowly peasant to a decorated general, and yet he bothered to make show trials with elaborate fictitious stories of espionage and sabotage. A lot of effort has been spent on making people admit all kinds of crazy shit and invent more crazy shit to accuse others of. Evidently, this is how totalitarian society works - you need to have something, even if nobody really believes in it, but you can't simply walk into Mordor murder people, you need to have a story behind it, even if a completely ridiculous one. So yes, actually they need to fabricate the evidence, if they are like every other totalitarian authorities that ever existed on this planet. This is how it always worked.

If Saleh Mohammadi is really heroic freedom fighter who sacrificed his life for democracy,

I don't think he "sacrificed" anything. I think he was a dude who wanted to be free, just as I do. And for that, he was murdered. Under which circumstances - it's hard for me to know, but surely I am not going to believe ayatollahs' word on it. Maybe indeed he went to far. Maybe he didn't and they are lying. I don't really know. But one thing I know is that Iranian police is not a reliable source on these matters.

are you sure you want to insult him by calling him innocent victim who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time?

Are you trolling right now or do you genuinely unable to see the difference between "he did not murder policemen" and "he had nothing to do with the anti-government protests and just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time"?

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