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More than twenty Olympic medallists, mentors and further world-class competitors have endorsed a appeal demanding a end to the death penalty of a boxing titleholder and coach, who is sentenced to die in Iran.

Escalating Worldwide Condemnation

Amid rising worldwide anger over Iran’s escalating use of capital punishment as a instrument of repression, the strongly worded statement condemns the authorities's decision to confirm the execution order of the boxing champion.

Vafaei Sani, thirty, from the city in north-east Iran, was detained for participating in nationwide protests in two thousand nineteen and charged of aiding an opposition group. He has endured five years in incarceration, where he has been abused and confined in isolation.

“Competition is meant to promote faith, togetherness, and courage,” the supporters stated. “The capital punishment of a winner for his opinions is a clear violation on these values and a caution to every athlete who attempts to express dissent.

Pattern of Executing Athletes

The statement noted that Vafaei Sani’s situation was not an isolated one and underscored the nation's history of sentencing to death athletes for their beliefs, such as a football captain, leader of the soccer squad, and a women's sports leader, captain of the national women’s volleyball team. In the year 2020, an athlete, a 27-year-old Iranian sports titleholder, was also executed.

Additional endorsers to the appeal consist of Tracy Edwards, who led the inaugural women's squad in a global yacht race and was the pioneering lady to receive a prestigious sailing award; the ex- skipper of the Australian football team Craig Foster; and a footballer, who was in the Iranian squad for the global tournament.

Apprehension and Flawed Legal Process

The boxer was detained in the spring of 2020. The allegations against him entailed “spreading corruption on Earth through incendiarism and damage of public property”. His verdict has been reversed twice but on the fourth of October it was confirmed on the latest review. His trial was denounced as “grossly unfair” by rights defenders and groups.

Call to United Nations

The appeal to prevent the boxer's death sentence is subsequent to a earlier letter to the global human rights chief for human rights, signed by in excess of a hundred advocates and groups, calling for action to stop the athlete’s capital punishment.

Execution Crisis

As per reports, there is an “death penalty surge in the country, which has achieved horrific proportions”. In two thousand twenty-three, officials put to death at least over 850 people – a forty-eight percent rise on the previous year. The year before, statistics showed 972 deaths, constituting the highest number since 2015. In excess of eight hundred people have been executed so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and opponents are focus, notably in the aftermath of the 2022 demonstrations. Analysts say the regime have employed the death penalty to stifle protest, generate anxiety among the population and strengthen their hold on rule.