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In excess of twenty Olympic champions, trainers and further international athletes have endorsed a statement urging a end to the capital punishment of a champion boxer and instructor, who is on death row in Iran.

Growing Global Anger

Amid growing international outrage over the country's escalating use of executions as a instrument of repression, the powerfully expressed letter condemns the government's decision to confirm the execution order of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

The athlete, thirty, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was arrested for being involved in countrywide demonstrations in the year 2019 and accused of backing an dissident organization. He has spent 60 months in prison, where he has been tortured and confined in solitary confinement.

“Athletics is meant to promote hope, togetherness, and courage,” the endorsers expressed. “The execution of a champion for his political views is a clear violation on these principles and a caution to all sportspeople who attempts to speak out.

Pattern of Killing Competitors

The letter pointed out that Vafaei Sani’s case was not an isolated one and emphasized the country's record of sentencing to death sports champions for their convictions, for example a football captain, skipper of the football side, and a volleyball captain, skipper of the national women’s volleyball team. In two thousand twenty, an athlete, a young Iranian sports titleholder, was also executed.

Further endorsers to the statement comprise a yachting pioneer, who led the pioneering all-female crew in a global yacht race and was the pioneering lady to be awarded a esteemed nautical honor; the ex- captain of the Australian football team a sports advocate; and a footballer, who was in the national team for the 1978 World Cup.

Apprehension and Unfair Trial

The athlete was arrested in March 2020. The charges against him included “promoting decay on Earth through incendiarism and destruction of state assets”. His ruling has been annulled multiple times but on the fourth of October it was confirmed on the third attempt. His legal proceedings was criticized as “highly unjust” by rights defenders and organizations.

Urging to International Body

The appeal to prevent the boxer's execution follows a previous letter to the global human rights chief for human rights, signed by in excess of one hundred rights specialists and entities, calling for intervention to prevent the competitor's death.

Capital Punishment Escalation

Based on findings, there is an “death penalty surge in the nation, which has achieved shocking dimensions”. In the year 2023, authorities executed at least over 850 people – a nearly half increase on the previous year. The year before, data showed 972 executions, constituting the highest number since two thousand fifteen. In excess of eight hundred people have been put to death so far in 2025.

Activists and opponents are victims, particularly in the aftermath of the 2022 demonstrations. Specialists say the government have employed the executions to suppress protest, instil apprehension among the population and tighten their hold on rule.