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Over two dozen Olympic medal winners, mentors and further global sports figures have put their names to a letter calling for a stop to the capital punishment of a champion boxer and trainer, who is on death row in Iran.

Escalating Worldwide Condemnation

Amid rising worldwide anger over the country's expanding employment of executions as a instrument of oppression, the forcefully phrased letter denounces the authorities's decision to maintain the capital punishment of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

The athlete, three decades old, from Mashhad in the northeastern region, was arrested for taking part in nationwide protests in two thousand nineteen and accused of backing an dissident organization. He has spent 60 months in incarceration, where he has been tortured and held in isolation.

“Sport is meant to promote faith, solidarity, and courage,” the endorsers expressed. “The execution of a titleholder for his political views is a direct assault on these ideals and a warning to every athlete who ventures to speak out.

History of Putting to Death Athletes

The letter noted that Vafaei Sani’s situation was not unique and underscored the country's record of executing athletes for their convictions, including a national team leader, leader of the soccer squad, and Fourouzan Abdi, leader of the female volleyball side. In 2020, an athlete, a 27-year national competitor, faced the death penalty.

Additional supporters to the appeal comprise a yachting pioneer, who captained the pioneering female-only team in a round-the-world competition and was the pioneering lady to receive a prestigious yachting trophy; the ex- skipper of the Australian football team an athlete; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the Iranian squad for the international competition.

Detention and Unjust Proceedings

Vafaei Sani was arrested in early 2020. The charges against him comprised “promoting decay on Earth through arson and ruin of state assets”. His verdict has been overturned twice but on 4 October it was confirmed on the third occasion. His legal proceedings was denounced as “highly unjust” by rights defenders and organizations.

Call to International Body

The urging to prevent Vafaei Sani’s execution follows a previous statement to the global human rights chief for freedoms, endorsed by more than a hundred advocates and groups, demanding measures to avert the athlete’s capital punishment.

Death Penalty Surge

Based on data, there is an “capital punishment escalation in the nation, which has attained horrific dimensions”. In 2023, officials sentenced at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a forty-eight percent increase on the previous year. Last year, data showed nine hundred seventy-two executions, representing the maximum count since 2015. In excess of 800 people have been put to death so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and dissidents are victims, particularly in the aftermath of the 2022 protests. Analysts say the government have employed the death penalty to suppress dissent, generate fear among the citizenry and reinforce their control on rule.