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Over 20 Olympic medallists, coaches and additional global sports figures have endorsed a appeal calling for a stop to the capital punishment of a boxing champion and instructor, who is facing execution in the country.

Growing Worldwide Condemnation

Amidst increasing international outrage over the nation's increasing application of executions as a instrument of repression, the forcefully phrased appeal censures the Iranian regime's ruling to maintain the execution order of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

Vafaei Sani, 30, from the city in north-east Iran, was taken into custody for taking part in countrywide demonstrations in the year 2019 and indicted of aiding an dissident organization. He has endured half a decade in prison, where he has been mistreated and held in seclusion.

“Competition is designed to promote faith, solidarity, and courage,” the signatories stated. “The execution of a winner for his opinions is a direct assault on these principles and a caution to every athlete who attempts to express dissent.

Pattern of Executing Competitors

The statement said that Vafaei Sani’s circumstances was not unique and emphasized the nation's record of putting to death competitors for their convictions, including a national team leader, captain of the football side, and a women's sports leader, skipper of the women's volleyball squad. In two thousand twenty, Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old Iranian competitor, faced the death penalty.

Other signatories to the statement include a sailing champion, who captained the pioneering female-only team in a round-the-world competition and was the initial female to earn a prestigious yachting trophy; the former leader of the national squad a sports advocate; and a footballer, who was in the Iranian squad for the international competition.

Detention and Flawed Legal Process

The boxer was arrested in March 2020. The charges against him comprised “promoting decay on Earth through incendiarism and damage of public property”. His ruling has been overturned twice but on October 4 it was upheld on the third occasion. His legal proceedings was condemned as “deeply biased” by human rights activists and groups.

Urging to UN

The call to halt Vafaei Sani’s death sentence is subsequent to a 2023 statement to the United Nations official for freedoms, signed by over a hundred human rights experts and organizations, urging intervention to prevent the sports figure's death.

Execution Crisis

As per reports, there is an “execution crisis in the nation, which has achieved shocking levels”. In two thousand twenty-three, authorities executed at least 853 people – a forty-eight percent increase on 2022. Last year, statistics showed nearly a thousand deaths, representing the highest number since two thousand fifteen. Over 800 people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and opponents are focus, especially in the aftermath of the 2022 protests. Specialists say the regime have utilized the executions to quell protest, generate apprehension among the public and strengthen their hold on power.