🔗 Share this article

More than 20 Olympic medallists, trainers and further global sports figures have endorsed a statement urging a stop to the death penalty of a boxing titleholder and coach, who is facing execution in Iran.

Growing Worldwide Condemnation

During growing international outrage over Iran’s increasing application of capital punishment as a tool of oppression, the forcefully phrased letter denounces the authorities's verdict to confirm the death sentence of the boxing champion.

The athlete, thirty, from Mashhad in the northern province, was detained for being involved in countrywide demonstrations in two thousand nineteen and indicted of backing an opposition group. He has passed five years in detention, where he has been tortured and kept in solitary confinement.

“Athletics is intended to encourage hope, unity, and courage,” the supporters wrote. “The execution of a titleholder for his opinions is a clear violation on these ideals and a warning to any competitor who attempts to speak out.

Record of Executing Athletes

The appeal pointed out that Vafaei Sani’s case was part of a pattern and highlighted the country's past of sentencing to death competitors for their beliefs, including a football captain, leader of the national football team, and Fourouzan Abdi, captain of the women's volleyball squad. In the year 2020, a wrestling champion, a 27-year-old national wrestling champion, was put to death.

Other supporters to the letter comprise Tracy Edwards, who captained the first female-only team in a round-the-world competition and was the initial female to earn a renowned yachting trophy; the ex- skipper of the Australian football team a sports advocate; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the national team for the international competition.

Apprehension and Flawed Legal Process

The athlete was taken into custody in the spring of 2020. The allegations against him entailed “causing deterioration on Earth through arson and destruction of government belongings”. His sentence has been reversed twice but on 4 October it was confirmed on the third occasion. His trial was denounced as “highly unjust” by rights defenders and groups.

Call to United Nations

The urging to prevent the athlete's execution comes after a previous appeal to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, signed by over a hundred rights specialists and organizations, demanding intervention to stop the sports figure's execution.

Death Penalty Surge

As per data, there is an “capital punishment escalation in Iran, which has attained horrific proportions”. In the year 2023, the government executed at least over 850 people – a forty-eight percent increase on 2022. The year before, data showed nearly a thousand deaths, marking the peak figure since the year 2015. More than eight hundred people have been put to death so far in the current year.

Dissidents and protesters are focus, especially in the wake of the 2022's protests. Experts say the government have used the death penalty to quell dissent, create anxiety among the citizenry and strengthen their control on authority.