🔗 Share this article Sports Champions Urge on Iran to Stop Death Sentence of Champion Boxer In excess of 20 Olympic medallists, coaches and additional international athletes have signed a appeal demanding a stop to the execution of a boxing titleholder and coach, who is on death row in the nation. Increasing Worldwide Condemnation During increasing international outrage over the country's escalating use of capital punishment as a instrument of oppression, the forcefully phrased letter condemns the government's verdict to uphold the capital punishment of the boxing champion. The athlete, thirty, from the city in north-east Iran, was taken into custody for being involved in nationwide protests in two thousand nineteen and accused of supporting an resistance movement. He has passed half a decade in detention, where he has been mistreated and held in seclusion. “Competition is designed to inspire hope, unity, and bravery,” the signatories wrote. “The capital punishment of a winner for his opinions is a blatant attack on these principles and a caution to all sportspeople who dares to express dissent. Record of Executing Competitors The statement noted that Vafaei Sani’s case was part of a pattern and underscored Iran’s past of sentencing to death athletes for their views, for example a football captain, captain of the soccer squad, and a women's sports leader, captain of the female volleyball side. In 2020, a wrestling champion, a 27-year-old Iranian sports titleholder, faced the death penalty. Additional signatories to the appeal comprise a yachting pioneer, who skippered the inaugural female-only team in a international sailing event and was the initial female to be awarded a prestigious nautical honor; the previous skipper of the soccer side Craig Foster; and a sports figure, who was in the country's selection for the international competition. Apprehension and Unjust Proceedings The athlete was detained in early 2020. The allegations against him comprised “spreading corruption on Earth through fire-setting and destruction of public property”. His verdict has been overturned on two occasions but on 4 October it was confirmed on the latest review. His trial was condemned as “highly unjust” by human rights activists and organizations. Appeal to International Body The call to halt the athlete's execution comes after a 2023 appeal to the UN high commissioner for human rights, signed by more than a hundred advocates and organizations, calling for action to avert the sports figure's execution. Execution Crisis As per findings, there is an “death penalty surge in the nation, which has achieved horrific proportions”. In two thousand twenty-three, authorities executed at least 853 people – a forty-eight percent surge on 2022. Last year, records showed 972 capital punishments, constituting the highest number since the year 2015. Over eight hundred people have been sentenced so far in 2025. Dissidents and dissidents are focus, particularly in the wake of the 2022 demonstrations. Analysts say the government have used the executions to suppress opposition, generate anxiety among the population and tighten their control on authority.