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Over twenty Olympic medal winners, mentors and further international athletes have endorsed a letter demanding a stop to the capital punishment of a boxing titleholder and coach, who is facing execution in the nation.

Growing Global Anger

Amidst increasing international outrage over Iran’s increasing application of executions as a means of oppression, the powerfully expressed statement condemns the authorities's verdict to uphold the execution order of the boxing champion.

The boxer, three decades old, from the city in north-east Iran, was arrested for participating in nationwide protests in two thousand nineteen and charged of supporting an dissident organization. He has spent 60 months in prison, where he has been abused and held in solitary confinement.

“Competition is designed to promote hope, togetherness, and courage,” the signatories expressed. “The capital punishment of a winner for his beliefs is a blatant attack on these principles and a admonition to all sportspeople who dares to speak out.

Record of Executing Sports Figures

The statement said that Vafaei Sani’s circumstances was part of a pattern and highlighted Iran’s history of executing sports champions for their convictions, such as a national team leader, leader of the football side, and Fourouzan Abdi, captain of the women's volleyball squad. In two thousand twenty, an athlete, a young Iranian wrestling champion, was put to death.

Other signatories to the appeal comprise a yachting pioneer, who skippered the pioneering all-female crew in a global yacht race and was the pioneering lady to be awarded a esteemed nautical honor; the former skipper of the national squad a sports advocate; and a sports figure, who was in the country's selection for the 1978 World Cup.

Detention and Flawed Legal Process

Vafaei Sani was taken into custody in March 2020. The allegations against him included “spreading corruption on Earth through arson and damage of state assets”. His verdict has been annulled multiple times but on the fourth of October it was confirmed on the third attempt. His court case was criticized as “deeply biased” by rights defenders and groups.

Call to International Body

The call to prevent Vafaei Sani’s execution is subsequent to a earlier statement to the UN high commissioner for human rights, endorsed by more than 100 advocates and organizations, urging action to stop the sports figure's execution.

Capital Punishment Escalation

According to data, there is an “death penalty surge in Iran, which has achieved horrific proportions”. In 2023, officials put to death at least over 850 people – a nearly half rise on 2022. The year before, data showed nine hundred seventy-two deaths, representing the peak figure since the year 2015. In excess of hundreds of people have been sentenced so far in the current year.

Political prisoners and dissidents are targets, notably in the aftermath of the the year 2022 protests. Specialists say the government have employed the death penalty to stifle opposition, create apprehension among the citizenry and strengthen their control on rule.