🔗 Share this article Elite Athletes Call on Iran to Halt Death Sentence of Champion Boxer More than twenty Olympic medallists, coaches and further international athletes have put their names to a appeal calling for a stop to the capital punishment of a boxing champion and coach, who is sentenced to die in Iran. Growing International Outrage During increasing worldwide anger over Iran’s expanding employment of capital punishment as a means of oppression, the forcefully phrased letter denounces the government's ruling to confirm the capital punishment of the athlete. Vafaei Sani, thirty, from Mashhad in the northern province, was taken into custody for being involved in nationwide protests in the year 2019 and charged of aiding an dissident organization. He has passed half a decade in detention, where he has been abused and kept in solitary confinement. “Sport is meant to encourage hope, togetherness, and fortitude,” the signatories wrote. “The execution of a champion for his opinions is a clear violation on these values and a caution to every athlete who ventures to express dissent. Pattern of Putting to Death Sports Figures The appeal said that the boxer's situation was part of a pattern and emphasized Iran’s history of executing sports champions for their views, such as Habib Khabiri, skipper of the soccer squad, and Fourouzan Abdi, skipper of the female volleyball side. In two thousand twenty, a wrestling champion, a 27-year-old Iranian wrestling champion, was also executed. Further endorsers to the appeal consist of a yachting pioneer, who skippered the inaugural women's squad in a round-the-world competition and was the initial female to receive a renowned nautical honor; the previous leader of the soccer side a sports advocate; and a footballer, who was in the Iranian squad for the 1978 World Cup. Detention and Flawed Legal Process Vafaei Sani was detained in early 2020. The charges against him entailed “promoting decay on Earth through incendiarism and damage of government belongings”. His ruling has been annulled on two occasions but on the fourth of October it was maintained on the latest review. His court case was denounced as “grossly unfair” by human rights activists and groups. Call to United Nations The appeal to prevent the boxer's capital punishment comes after a earlier statement to the global human rights chief for freedoms, endorsed by over a hundred human rights experts and organizations, demanding measures to prevent the athlete’s death. Capital Punishment Escalation According to data, there is an “death penalty surge in the nation, which has achieved shocking proportions”. In the year 2023, authorities executed at least 853 people – a forty-eight percent increase on 2022. In the prior period, records showed nine hundred seventy-two deaths, marking the peak figure since 2015. In excess of 800 people have been executed so far in 2025. Political prisoners and protesters are victims, particularly in the wake of the 2022's demonstrations. Specialists say the government have employed the capital punishment to suppress opposition, create fear among the population and tighten their control on power.