Iranian footballer Amir Reza Nasr Azadani has been sentenced to death after he was arrested last month for joining nationwide protests against the country's clerical establishment, human rights groups have said.
Mr Azadani was arrested in connection to the deaths of three security personnel during protests in Isfahan and accused of "waging war against God", according to Iran's ISNA news agency.
The 26-year-old Iranian league footballer is among at least 27 other Iranians facing death sentences in connection to the protests that have engulfed the country for almost three months.
Two of those men — Majidreza Rahnavard and Mohsen Shekari, both 23 years old — were publicly hanged this month.
The world union of professional footballers FIFPRO said it was "shocked and sickened" by Mr Azadani's sentencing "after campaigning for women's rights and basic freedom in his country".
"We stand in solidarity with Amir and call for the immediate removal of his punishment," the organisation wrote on Twitter.
Prominent current and former footballers expressed solidarity and called for executions to end.
Former Iranian international star Ali Karimi and Iran's World Cup team goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand used their social media platforms to call for the sentence to be revoked and an end to executions.
Asadollah Jafari, the judiciary chief of Isfahan, was quoted by local media as saying that Mr Azadani was a member of an "armed group that operated in a networked and organised manner with the intent of fighting the basis of the Islamic Republic establishment".
Protests erupted following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained by morality police for wearing her hijab, or headscarf, "improperly".
At least 490 protesters, including 68 children and 62 security personnel, have been killed in the months of unrest that have followed, according to the Human Rights Activists' News Agency (HRANA).
Another 18,200 people have been detained by authorities.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned more executions could be carried out soon.
“The trials of those who are facing capital charges related to protests have been a total travesty of justice,” said Tara Sepehri Far, HRW senior Iran researcher.
"The defendants are reportedly tortured into confessing, deprived of access to lawyers of their choosing, and rushed through trial proceedings that bypass safeguards in Iran's own penal code and criminal procedure law."
Iran ousted from UN women's group
On Wednesday, the UN Economic and Social Council voted to immediately oust Iran from the UN's leading global body fighting for gender equality because of its systematic violation of women's rights.
The US-sponsored resolution to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women for the remainder of its 2022-2026 term was passed 29-8, with 16 abstentions.
The 45-member Commission on the Status of Women meets annually every March, and aims to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called the vote "historic”, the first-ever removal of a commission member and "the right thing to do".
"I think we sent a strong message to the Iranian government and we sent a strong message to Iranian women," she told reporters after the vote.
Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), expressed hope that the UN expulsion "begets a larger course correction in Iran policy around the world".
"Even prior to the killing of Mahsa Amini and the protests that have ensued, a regime like the Islamic Republic should be nowhere near any commission for women given its institutionalised discrimination against half its own population," he told the ABC.
"This needs to be just the tip of the iceberg for when it comes to diplomatic pressure.
"Next steps could and should include censure resolutions, coordinated human rights sanctions to include Magnitsky sanctions, and the downgrading of diplomatic ties and withdrawing of ambassadors."
