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Over 20 Olympic champions, trainers and further international athletes have put their names to a statement demanding a stop to the capital punishment of a boxing champion and trainer, who is sentenced to die in the country.

Escalating Global Anger

Amid increasing worldwide anger over the nation's expanding employment of the death penalty as a instrument of suppression, the forcefully phrased statement censures the authorities's decision to uphold the capital punishment of the athlete.

Vafaei Sani, thirty, from Mashhad in the northeastern region, was detained for being involved in countrywide demonstrations in two thousand nineteen and charged of aiding an opposition group. He has endured 60 months in prison, where he has been abused and confined in solitary confinement.

“Competition is intended to encourage faith, unity, and courage,” the endorsers stated. “The capital punishment of a champion for his opinions is a clear violation on these values and a admonition to all sportspeople who ventures to voice opinions.

History of Executing Competitors

The letter pointed out that the athlete's situation was part of a pattern and highlighted the country's record of executing athletes for their beliefs, including Habib Khabiri, skipper of the soccer squad, and Fourouzan Abdi, leader of the female volleyball side. In 2020, an athlete, a young Iranian sports titleholder, was put to death.

Other endorsers to the statement include a yachting pioneer, who skippered the pioneering all-female crew in a international sailing event and was the first woman to be awarded a prestigious nautical honor; the ex- leader of the national squad an athlete; and a sports figure, who was in the Iranian squad for the global tournament.

Apprehension and Unjust Proceedings

The boxer was arrested in March 2020. The allegations against him entailed “spreading corruption on Earth through arson and damage of government belongings”. His ruling has been reversed on two occasions but on 4 October it was maintained on the third occasion. His court case was criticized as “grossly unfair” by rights defenders and groups.

Appeal to UN

The call to stop Vafaei Sani’s execution follows a previous statement to the United Nations official for human rights, endorsed by in excess of 100 advocates and organizations, calling for intervention to prevent the competitor's death.

Execution Crisis

Based on data, there is an “execution crisis in the nation, which has attained shocking proportions”. In 2023, authorities executed at least 853 people – a nearly half increase on 2022. Last year, data showed nearly a thousand deaths, constituting the peak figure since 2015. In excess of eight hundred people have been executed so far in 2025.

Activists and protesters are victims, especially in the aftermath of the 2022 uprising. Specialists say the Iranian authorities have used the death penalty to quell opposition, instil fear among the citizenry and reinforce their hold on power.