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In excess of 20 Olympic champions, trainers and further international athletes have endorsed a statement demanding a end to the death penalty of a boxing champion and coach, who is on death row in Iran.

Growing Global Anger

Amid growing global condemnation over the country's escalating use of the death penalty as a tool of oppression, the forcefully phrased appeal denounces the authorities's verdict to uphold the execution order of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

The athlete, thirty, from Mashhad in the northeastern region, was detained for being involved in countrywide demonstrations in the year 2019 and accused of supporting an dissident organization. He has spent half a decade in detention, where he has been abused and confined in isolation.

“Competition is designed to promote hope, togetherness, and fortitude,” the endorsers expressed. “The execution of a winner for his political views is a blatant attack on these ideals and a caution to every athlete who dares to express dissent.

Record of Killing Athletes

The letter pointed out that Vafaei Sani’s case was not unique and underscored the country's past of executing athletes for their views, including a national team leader, leader of the national football team, and a volleyball captain, skipper of the national women’s volleyball team. In 2020, a wrestling champion, a young Iranian sports titleholder, was also executed.

Other signatories to the appeal comprise Tracy Edwards, who skippered the first women's squad in a international sailing event and was the first woman to be awarded a prestigious nautical honor; the ex- skipper of the national squad Craig Foster; and a sports figure, who was in the Iranian squad for the 1978 World Cup.

Detention and Unfair Trial

The boxer was arrested in early 2020. The accusations against him comprised “promoting decay on Earth through arson and ruin of public property”. His ruling has been reversed on two occasions but on 4 October it was upheld on the third occasion. His court case was condemned as “highly unjust” by advocates and groups.

Call to International Body

The urging to stop Vafaei Sani’s capital punishment follows a earlier appeal to the UN high commissioner for human rights, backed by more than one hundred rights specialists and organizations, demanding measures to prevent the competitor's execution.

Capital Punishment Escalation

Based on findings, there is an “execution crisis in the nation, which has attained alarming levels”. In the year 2023, the government executed at least 853 people – a forty-eight percent rise on the previous year. The year before, data showed nine hundred seventy-two deaths, constituting the peak figure since 2015. More than 800 people have been sentenced so far in the current year.

Political prisoners and opponents are targets, especially in the aftermath of the the year 2022 uprising. Experts say the regime have utilized the death penalty to quell protest, instil anxiety among the population and strengthen their grip on rule.