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In excess of 20 Olympic champions, mentors and additional international athletes have put their names to a appeal demanding a stop to the capital punishment of a boxing champion and trainer, who is sentenced to die in the nation.

Escalating Worldwide Condemnation

Amidst increasing worldwide anger over Iran’s escalating use of capital punishment as a means of repression, the powerfully expressed appeal denounces the authorities's ruling to maintain the death sentence of the athlete.

Vafaei Sani, thirty, from the city in the northeastern region, was arrested for participating in national uprisings in 2019 and indicted of supporting an dissident organization. He has endured five years in incarceration, where he has been abused and held in seclusion.

“Competition is designed to encourage optimism, togetherness, and courage,” the supporters wrote. “The death penalty of a winner for his political views is a clear violation on these values and a warning to all sportspeople who attempts to express dissent.

Pattern of Executing Competitors

The letter said that the athlete's situation was part of a pattern and highlighted the country's record of sentencing to death sports champions for their views, including a national team leader, skipper of the football side, and a women's sports leader, leader of the national women’s volleyball team. In the year 2020, an athlete, a 27-year-old Iranian sports titleholder, was also executed.

Further supporters to the appeal consist of a yachting pioneer, who led the pioneering women's squad in a international sailing event and was the pioneering lady to receive a prestigious nautical honor; the former captain of the Australian football team an athlete; and a footballer, who was in the Iranian squad for the 1978 World Cup.

Detention and Flawed Legal Process

Vafaei Sani was detained in the spring of 2020. The charges against him comprised “spreading corruption on Earth through incendiarism and ruin of state assets”. His ruling has been annulled multiple times but on 4 October it was maintained on the latest review. His legal proceedings was criticized as “deeply biased” by advocates and bodies.

Appeal to International Body

The call to prevent Vafaei Sani’s capital punishment is subsequent to a previous appeal to the global human rights chief for rights, endorsed by in excess of one hundred rights specialists and entities, urging intervention to prevent the athlete’s execution.

Execution Crisis

As per findings, there is an “death penalty surge in the country, which has reached shocking levels”. In 2023, authorities sentenced at least 853 people – a forty-eight percent surge on 2022. In the prior period, data showed nine hundred seventy-two capital punishments, constituting the maximum count since 2015. More than 800 people have been put to death so far in 2025.

Activists and protesters are targets, especially in the wake of the the year 2022 demonstrations. Specialists say the regime have employed the death penalty to quell protest, create fear among the citizenry and strengthen their grip on rule.