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Over 20 Olympic champions, trainers and further international athletes have endorsed a statement demanding a stop to the death penalty of a boxing titleholder and trainer, who is on death row in Iran.

Growing International Outrage

Amid increasing worldwide anger over the country's escalating use of the death penalty as a means of oppression, the powerfully expressed appeal censures the Iranian regime's verdict to confirm the death sentence of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

Vafaei Sani, three decades old, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was taken into custody for participating in national uprisings in two thousand nineteen and charged of backing an resistance movement. He has endured five years in detention, where he has been tortured and kept in solitary confinement.

“Competition is designed to encourage faith, togetherness, and fortitude,” the signatories stated. “The execution of a champion for his political views is a direct assault on these values and a admonition to all sportspeople who dares to voice opinions.

Pattern of Putting to Death Sports Figures

The letter said that the athlete's circumstances was part of a pattern and highlighted the country's past of executing competitors for their views, including a national team leader, captain of the football side, and a volleyball captain, leader of the national women’s volleyball team. In two thousand twenty, a wrestling champion, a 27-year-old national sports titleholder, was also executed.

Other signatories to the statement comprise Tracy Edwards, who captained the pioneering female-only team in a international sailing event and was the first woman to be awarded a prestigious sailing award; the ex- leader of the national squad an athlete; and a sports figure, who was in the Iranian squad for the 1978 World Cup.

Apprehension and Unfair Trial

The boxer was taken into custody in March 2020. The allegations against him entailed “spreading corruption on Earth through fire-setting and ruin of public property”. His verdict has been overturned multiple times but on October 4 it was maintained on the third occasion. His legal proceedings was condemned as “grossly unfair” by advocates and groups.

Urging to United Nations

The call to prevent Vafaei Sani’s execution is subsequent to a 2023 appeal to the global human rights chief for freedoms, backed by in excess of a hundred rights specialists and entities, demanding measures to stop the athlete’s death.

Execution Crisis

As per findings, there is an “death penalty surge in the country, which has achieved horrific proportions”. In the year 2023, the government put to death at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a 48% surge on 2022. In the prior period, statistics showed nine hundred seventy-two deaths, marking the highest number since two thousand fifteen. In excess of eight hundred people have been executed so far in 2025.

Activists and opponents are focus, particularly in the aftermath of the 2022's protests. Analysts say the government have employed the death penalty to quell protest, create anxiety among the public and tighten their grip on power.