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More than two dozen Olympic medal winners, coaches and further world-class competitors have signed a appeal demanding a halt to the death penalty of a champion boxer and instructor, who is on death row in the country.

Escalating Global Anger

During growing global condemnation over the country's expanding employment of executions as a means of oppression, the powerfully expressed letter condemns the Iranian regime's decision to confirm the execution order of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

The boxer, 30, from Mashhad in the northeastern region, was detained for participating in nationwide protests in 2019 and indicted of supporting an opposition group. He has endured 60 months in prison, where he has been tortured and confined in solitary confinement.

“Competition is designed to encourage optimism, unity, and courage,” the endorsers stated. “The capital punishment of a winner for his opinions is a blatant attack on these principles and a admonition to every athlete who ventures to voice opinions.

Pattern of Putting to Death Competitors

The letter said that the athlete's circumstances was not unique and highlighted the nation's past of putting to death sports champions for their convictions, for example Habib Khabiri, captain of the national football team, and a volleyball captain, captain of the women's volleyball squad. In 2020, an athlete, a 27-year Iranian competitor, faced the death penalty.

Other signatories to the letter consist of a yachting pioneer, who captained the pioneering female-only team in a international sailing event and was the first woman to receive a esteemed yachting trophy; the former skipper of the Australian football team Craig Foster; and a footballer, who was in the country's selection for the 1978 World Cup.

Detention and Unfair Trial

The athlete was detained in the spring of 2020. The allegations against him entailed “causing deterioration on Earth through incendiarism and damage of state assets”. His verdict has been annulled on two occasions but on the fourth of October it was upheld on the latest review. His trial was denounced as “grossly unfair” by human rights activists and organizations.

Call to UN

The call to prevent the boxer's capital punishment is subsequent to a earlier appeal to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, signed by over one hundred human rights experts and groups, calling for measures to avert the athlete’s capital punishment.

Execution Crisis

As per findings, there is an “death penalty surge in the country, which has achieved shocking proportions”. In two thousand twenty-three, authorities executed at least over 850 people – a forty-eight percent rise on 2022. The year before, statistics showed 972 capital punishments, constituting the highest number since the year 2015. Over 800 people have been executed so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and protesters are focus, notably in the wake of the 2022's uprising. Specialists say the government have utilized the executions to suppress dissent, generate apprehension among the population and strengthen their grip on power.