🔗 Share this article Olympians Urge on Iran to Stop Death Sentence of Boxing Champion Over 20 Olympic medal winners, coaches and other global sports figures have put their names to a letter calling for a end to the death penalty of a champion boxer and trainer, who is sentenced to die in the country. Increasing International Outrage During growing worldwide anger over the country's expanding employment of the death penalty as a tool of repression, the powerfully expressed statement censures the government's ruling to maintain the capital punishment of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani. Vafaei Sani, 30, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was detained for participating in national uprisings in the year 2019 and indicted of aiding an opposition group. He has endured 60 months in incarceration, where he has been tortured and confined in seclusion. “Sport is meant to inspire optimism, togetherness, and bravery,” the endorsers expressed. “The execution of a champion for his political views is a direct assault on these values and a admonition to every athlete who ventures to speak out. History of Putting to Death Athletes The appeal pointed out that the boxer's circumstances was not unique and underscored the country's history of sentencing to death competitors for their convictions, such as a football captain, leader of the football side, and a women's sports leader, captain of the women's volleyball squad. In the year 2020, Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old Iranian wrestling champion, was put to death. Additional endorsers to the letter consist of Tracy Edwards, who led the pioneering women's squad in a round-the-world competition and was the pioneering lady to earn a renowned sailing award; the previous leader of the soccer side Craig Foster; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the country's selection for the global tournament. Detention and Flawed Legal Process The boxer was taken into custody in the spring of 2020. The allegations against him comprised “promoting decay on Earth through fire-setting and destruction of government belongings”. His verdict has been annulled twice but on 4 October it was confirmed on the third attempt. His court case was condemned as “deeply biased” by human rights activists and groups. Call to UN The appeal to halt Vafaei Sani’s capital punishment comes after a previous statement to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, backed by over one hundred rights specialists and organizations, urging intervention to prevent the competitor's execution. Capital Punishment Escalation Based on reports, there is an “capital punishment escalation in the country, which has attained horrific proportions”. In two thousand twenty-three, officials sentenced at least over 850 people – a nearly half increase on 2022. In the prior period, records showed nearly a thousand executions, marking the peak figure since the year 2015. In excess of 800 people have been executed so far in 2025. Activists and protesters are targets, particularly in the wake of the 2022's protests. Analysts say the government have utilized the executions to quell dissent, create fear among the public and reinforce their grip on authority.