🔗 Share this article

Over 20 Olympic medallists, mentors and further world-class competitors have signed a appeal calling for a stop to the capital punishment of a boxing titleholder and instructor, who is facing execution in Iran.

Increasing Worldwide Condemnation

Amid growing international outrage over Iran’s escalating use of capital punishment as a means of oppression, the forcefully phrased letter condemns the government's decision to maintain the capital punishment of the athlete.

The boxer, thirty, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was arrested for participating in countrywide demonstrations in the year 2019 and indicted of supporting an resistance movement. He has endured 60 months in incarceration, where he has been tortured and held in seclusion.

“Competition is intended to inspire optimism, solidarity, and bravery,” the endorsers stated. “The death penalty of a winner for his beliefs is a clear violation on these principles and a warning to every athlete who ventures to speak out.

Record of Executing Competitors

The statement noted that Vafaei Sani’s case was not unique and emphasized Iran’s past of putting to death athletes for their views, such as Habib Khabiri, skipper of the national football team, and Fourouzan Abdi, leader of the national women’s volleyball team. In two thousand twenty, an athlete, a young national wrestling champion, was also executed.

Other supporters to the letter include a yachting pioneer, who skippered the pioneering all-female crew in a international sailing event and was the initial female to receive a esteemed nautical honor; the ex- leader of the Australian football team an athlete; and a sports figure, who was in the country's selection for the 1978 World Cup.

Arrest and Unfair Trial

The boxer was taken into custody in the spring of 2020. The allegations against him included “spreading corruption on Earth through incendiarism and destruction of government belongings”. His verdict has been annulled twice but on 4 October it was confirmed on the latest review. His court case was denounced as “highly unjust” by rights defenders and bodies.

Appeal to UN

The urging to halt the boxer's capital punishment comes after a 2023 letter to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, backed by in excess of 100 advocates and organizations, calling for measures to prevent the sports figure's capital punishment.

Capital Punishment Escalation

As per reports, there is an “execution crisis in the country, which has attained horrific dimensions”. In 2023, officials executed at least over 850 people – a forty-eight percent surge on 2022. In the prior period, records showed nearly a thousand deaths, constituting the peak figure since the year 2015. More than eight hundred people have been executed so far in the current year.

Political prisoners and opponents are victims, notably in the aftermath of the 2022's uprising. Specialists say the government have employed the executions to quell opposition, create apprehension among the public and tighten their hold on rule.