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In excess of two dozen Olympic medal winners, mentors and additional international athletes have endorsed a appeal demanding a stop to the capital punishment of a boxing champion and instructor, who is facing execution in the nation.

Growing Global Anger

Amidst increasing international outrage over the country's expanding employment of executions as a means of oppression, the forcefully phrased statement censures the Iranian regime's decision to maintain the capital punishment of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

The boxer, 30, from the city in north-east Iran, was arrested for being involved in nationwide protests in the year 2019 and accused of aiding an resistance movement. He has endured 60 months in prison, where he has been tortured and confined in isolation.

“Competition is designed to inspire faith, unity, and bravery,” the endorsers wrote. “The death penalty of a champion for his political views is a blatant attack on these values and a warning to any competitor who attempts to express dissent.

History of Putting to Death Competitors

The appeal pointed out that Vafaei Sani’s circumstances was part of a pattern and emphasized the nation's history of sentencing to death athletes for their beliefs, for example Habib Khabiri, skipper of the national football team, and a volleyball captain, skipper of the national women’s volleyball team. In two thousand twenty, Navid Afkari, a young national wrestling champion, faced the death penalty.

Further endorsers to the statement include a sailing champion, who captained the first female-only team in a round-the-world competition and was the initial female to earn a esteemed sailing award; the previous captain of the national squad an athlete; and a footballer, who was in the national team for the international competition.

Apprehension and Flawed Legal Process

The boxer was arrested in the spring of 2020. The accusations against him comprised “spreading corruption on Earth through fire-setting and damage of public property”. His sentence has been annulled twice but on the fourth of October it was upheld on the third attempt. His legal proceedings was condemned as “deeply biased” by rights defenders and organizations.

Urging to International Body

The appeal to stop the athlete's death sentence is subsequent to a 2023 statement to the UN high commissioner for rights, signed by in excess of 100 advocates and organizations, calling for intervention to prevent the athlete’s execution.

Death Penalty Surge

As per reports, there is an “execution crisis in Iran, which has reached shocking levels”. In two thousand twenty-three, authorities put to death at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a forty-eight percent increase on 2022. Last year, data showed nine hundred seventy-two capital punishments, representing the highest number since 2015. In excess of hundreds of people have been put to death so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and dissidents are victims, especially in the aftermath of the 2022's demonstrations. Specialists say the government have used the death penalty to suppress opposition, instil fear among the population and strengthen their hold on rule.