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Over 20 Olympic champions, coaches and other global sports figures have endorsed a statement urging a end to the execution of a champion boxer and coach, who is on death row in the nation.

Growing Global Anger

Amidst growing worldwide anger over the country's increasing application of the death penalty as a instrument of suppression, the strongly worded statement censures the authorities's verdict to uphold the death sentence of the athlete.

The athlete, 30, from Mashhad in the northern province, was detained for being involved in national uprisings in 2019 and indicted of backing an resistance movement. He has endured five years in incarceration, where he has been abused and kept in seclusion.

“Athletics is designed to inspire hope, unity, and courage,” the signatories expressed. “The capital punishment of a winner for his opinions is a blatant attack on these principles and a warning to every athlete who dares to speak out.

Record of Killing Sports Figures

The letter pointed out that Vafaei Sani’s case was not an isolated one and emphasized Iran’s history of executing athletes for their beliefs, including a football captain, leader of the football side, and Fourouzan Abdi, skipper of the women's volleyball squad. In the year 2020, a wrestling champion, a young national competitor, faced the death penalty.

Further endorsers to the statement consist of a sailing champion, who captained the pioneering women's squad in a international sailing event and was the first woman to earn a prestigious nautical honor; the ex- captain of the soccer side Craig Foster; and a footballer, who was in the country's selection for the 1978 World Cup.

Apprehension and Unjust Proceedings

The athlete was taken into custody in March 2020. The charges against him entailed “spreading corruption on Earth through incendiarism and damage of state assets”. His verdict has been annulled multiple times but on October 4 it was upheld on the third occasion. His court case was criticized as “deeply biased” by human rights activists and groups.

Call to UN

The urging to halt the boxer's death sentence follows a earlier letter to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, signed by more than 100 rights specialists and groups, calling for measures to stop the competitor's death.

Capital Punishment Escalation

Based on findings, there is an “death penalty surge in the nation, which has reached horrific proportions”. In 2023, officials executed at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a nearly half rise on 2022. The year before, data showed nine hundred seventy-two capital punishments, representing the maximum count since two thousand fifteen. Over eight hundred people have been put to death so far in 2025.

Activists and opponents are victims, especially in the aftermath of the the year 2022 demonstrations. Experts say the Iranian authorities have employed the capital punishment to quell dissent, instil anxiety among the population and reinforce their hold on rule.