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In excess of 20 Olympic medal winners, mentors and further international athletes have endorsed a statement calling for a end to the execution of a champion boxer and trainer, who is on death row in the nation.

Increasing Worldwide Condemnation

During rising international outrage over Iran’s escalating use of capital punishment as a means of repression, the strongly worded letter condemns the authorities's verdict to confirm the execution order of the boxing champion.

Vafaei Sani, 30, from Mashhad in the northern province, was arrested for taking part in countrywide demonstrations in 2019 and charged of backing an dissident organization. He has endured 60 months in detention, where he has been abused and kept in seclusion.

“Sport is meant to encourage faith, unity, and fortitude,” the signatories wrote. “The execution of a winner for his opinions is a direct assault on these ideals and a warning to every athlete who attempts to speak out.

Record of Killing Athletes

The letter noted that Vafaei Sani’s case was not unique and emphasized the nation's history of executing competitors for their beliefs, such as Habib Khabiri, captain of the football side, and a volleyball captain, leader of the women's volleyball squad. In two thousand twenty, a wrestling champion, a 27-year national competitor, was also executed.

Further endorsers to the letter include a yachting pioneer, who skippered the pioneering women's squad in a international sailing event and was the initial female to earn a renowned nautical honor; the ex- skipper of the national squad a sports advocate; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the national team for the international competition.

Detention and Unjust Proceedings

The boxer was arrested in March 2020. The charges against him comprised “promoting decay on Earth through fire-setting and damage of public property”. His sentence has been annulled on two occasions but on the fourth of October it was upheld on the third occasion. His legal proceedings was criticized as “deeply biased” by advocates and organizations.

Appeal to United Nations

The urging to prevent the boxer's execution is subsequent to a 2023 letter to the United Nations official for human rights, backed by in excess of one hundred human rights experts and entities, calling for measures to stop the competitor's capital punishment.

Death Penalty Surge

As per reports, there is an “capital punishment escalation in the nation, which has achieved shocking levels”. In 2023, officials executed at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a forty-eight percent rise on 2022. In the prior period, statistics showed nearly a thousand capital punishments, constituting the maximum count since the year 2015. In excess of eight hundred people have been put to death so far in the current year.

Activists and dissidents are targets, particularly in the aftermath of the 2022 demonstrations. Analysts say the Iranian authorities have employed the executions to quell opposition, instil anxiety among the population and tighten their control on authority.