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In excess of twenty Olympic champions, trainers and further international athletes have put their names to a appeal urging a halt to the death penalty of a champion boxer and trainer, who is facing execution in Iran.

Increasing Worldwide Condemnation

Amid growing global condemnation over Iran’s escalating use of executions as a instrument of oppression, the strongly worded statement denounces the Iranian regime's ruling to maintain the capital punishment of the athlete.

Vafaei Sani, three decades old, from the city in north-east Iran, was arrested for participating in national uprisings in the year 2019 and charged of supporting an opposition group. He has endured five years in incarceration, where he has been mistreated and confined in isolation.

“Athletics is designed to encourage hope, solidarity, and courage,” the endorsers stated. “The capital punishment of a titleholder for his political views is a clear violation on these ideals and a warning to any competitor who dares to express dissent.

Pattern of Killing Athletes

The appeal pointed out that the athlete's case was not an isolated one and highlighted the nation's record of executing athletes for their beliefs, including a national team leader, skipper of the national football team, and Fourouzan Abdi, skipper of the women's volleyball squad. In 2020, Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old Iranian sports titleholder, was put to death.

Further supporters to the letter consist of a yachting pioneer, who led the pioneering female-only team in a international sailing event and was the first woman to be awarded a renowned sailing award; the ex- skipper of the Australian football team an athlete; and a sports figure, who was in the Iranian squad for the international competition.

Arrest and Flawed Legal Process

The athlete was detained in early 2020. The allegations against him included “promoting decay on Earth through incendiarism and damage of government belongings”. His sentence has been annulled multiple times but on October 4 it was upheld on the latest review. His legal proceedings was criticized as “highly unjust” by advocates and bodies.

Call to United Nations

The urging to halt the athlete's capital punishment is subsequent to a 2023 letter to the United Nations official for human rights, backed by more than a hundred rights specialists and entities, demanding intervention to stop the sports figure's capital punishment.

Execution Crisis

According to data, there is an “capital punishment escalation in the nation, which has attained horrific proportions”. In the year 2023, the government sentenced at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a nearly half rise on 2022. The year before, data showed nine hundred seventy-two capital punishments, constituting the peak figure since the year 2015. Over eight hundred people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Activists and dissidents are targets, particularly in the aftermath of the 2022 protests. Experts say the regime have utilized the executions to quell protest, instil apprehension among the public and tighten their grip on authority.