🔗 Share this article

Over two dozen Olympic medallists, coaches and other world-class competitors have put their names to a appeal urging a halt to the execution of a champion boxer and trainer, who is sentenced to die in Iran.

Increasing International Outrage

During growing global condemnation over the nation's increasing application of capital punishment as a tool of suppression, the forcefully phrased statement condemns the Iranian regime's ruling to maintain the death sentence of the boxing champion.

The athlete, thirty, from Mashhad in the northeastern region, was arrested for taking part in nationwide protests in the year 2019 and charged of backing an opposition group. He has passed half a decade in detention, where he has been mistreated and held in isolation.

“Competition is intended to promote hope, togetherness, and courage,” the endorsers expressed. “The execution of a champion for his political views is a direct assault on these principles and a caution to any competitor who attempts to express dissent.

History of Killing Competitors

The statement noted that the athlete's case was part of a pattern and emphasized the country's record of sentencing to death athletes for their views, such as Habib Khabiri, captain of the national football team, and Fourouzan Abdi, skipper of the women's volleyball squad. In the year 2020, Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old national wrestling champion, faced the death penalty.

Other signatories to the appeal consist of a sailing champion, who captained the first female-only team in a global yacht race and was the first woman to be awarded a prestigious sailing award; the previous skipper of the national squad an athlete; and a footballer, who was in the Iranian squad for the 1978 World Cup.

Arrest and Unfair Trial

Vafaei Sani was taken into custody in March 2020. The charges against him entailed “spreading corruption on Earth through incendiarism and destruction of state assets”. His ruling has been reversed twice but on October 4 it was upheld on the latest review. His legal proceedings was denounced as “grossly unfair” by human rights activists and bodies.

Appeal to United Nations

The call to prevent Vafaei Sani’s execution is subsequent to a earlier letter to the United Nations official for freedoms, backed by more than a hundred rights specialists and groups, calling for intervention to avert the sports figure's capital punishment.

Execution Crisis

As per reports, there is an “death penalty surge in the country, which has attained horrific dimensions”. In the year 2023, authorities executed at least over 850 people – a 48% increase on 2022. In the prior period, statistics showed 972 capital punishments, marking the peak figure since 2015. Over eight hundred people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Dissidents and protesters are focus, particularly in the aftermath of the the year 2022 protests. Experts say the regime have employed the capital punishment to stifle opposition, generate apprehension among the population and strengthen their control on authority.