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Over 20 Olympic medallists, mentors and further world-class competitors have endorsed a appeal demanding a stop to the execution of a champion boxer and instructor, who is on death row in Iran.

Growing Worldwide Condemnation

Amid increasing worldwide anger over Iran’s increasing application of capital punishment as a means of repression, the forcefully phrased statement censures the Iranian regime's ruling to uphold the capital punishment of the athlete.

Vafaei Sani, three decades old, from Mashhad in the northeastern region, was taken into custody for taking part in national uprisings in the year 2019 and indicted of backing an opposition group. He has spent half a decade in incarceration, where he has been mistreated and kept in solitary confinement.

“Athletics is intended to promote hope, togetherness, and bravery,” the supporters wrote. “The death penalty of a champion for his beliefs is a blatant attack on these values and a warning to any competitor who attempts to express dissent.

Record of Putting to Death Athletes

The letter pointed out that the athlete's situation was not an isolated one and emphasized the nation's record of executing athletes for their beliefs, including Habib Khabiri, leader of the national football team, and a women's sports leader, skipper of the national women’s volleyball team. In the year 2020, a wrestling champion, a 27-year-old national wrestling champion, was also executed.

Other supporters to the appeal include a sailing champion, who skippered the first all-female crew in a round-the-world competition and was the initial female to be awarded a renowned sailing award; the former leader of the national squad a sports advocate; and a sports figure, who was in the national team for the international competition.

Detention and Unjust Proceedings

The athlete was taken into custody in early 2020. The accusations against him included “causing deterioration on Earth through incendiarism and damage of government belongings”. His verdict has been overturned twice but on the fourth of October it was maintained on the third attempt. His court case was condemned as “deeply biased” by rights defenders and organizations.

Urging to UN

The appeal to stop Vafaei Sani’s death sentence is subsequent to a earlier letter to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, endorsed by in excess of 100 advocates and groups, calling for measures to avert the athlete’s death.

Death Penalty Surge

As per data, there is an “execution crisis in the nation, which has achieved horrific levels”. In two thousand twenty-three, officials sentenced at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a nearly half surge on 2022. The year before, data showed nearly a thousand executions, representing the peak figure since the year 2015. Over 800 people have been sentenced so far in the current year.

Political prisoners and protesters are targets, notably in the aftermath of the 2022's protests. Experts say the Iranian authorities have utilized the executions to stifle protest, create apprehension among the public and tighten their hold on authority.