🔗 Share this article

In excess of 20 Olympic champions, trainers and further global sports figures have put their names to a statement demanding a end to the capital punishment of a boxing champion and coach, who is on death row in the nation.

Increasing Global Anger

During growing global condemnation over the country's increasing application of capital punishment as a means of oppression, the powerfully expressed appeal condemns the Iranian regime's verdict to uphold the capital punishment of the boxing champion.

The boxer, three decades old, from the city in north-east Iran, was arrested for being involved in countrywide demonstrations in 2019 and accused of supporting an dissident organization. He has endured half a decade in prison, where he has been mistreated and held in isolation.

“Athletics is designed to inspire optimism, unity, and fortitude,” the supporters stated. “The capital punishment of a champion for his beliefs is a blatant attack on these values and a warning to all sportspeople who ventures to express dissent.

Pattern of Killing Athletes

The letter noted that Vafaei Sani’s case was not unique and highlighted the country's record of sentencing to death athletes for their views, for example a football captain, captain of the soccer squad, and a women's sports leader, skipper of the female volleyball side. In the year 2020, an athlete, a young national competitor, faced the death penalty.

Other endorsers to the statement comprise a yachting pioneer, who led the pioneering female-only team in a global yacht race and was the pioneering lady to earn a esteemed sailing award; the previous leader of the soccer side an athlete; and a sports figure, who was in the country's selection for the global tournament.

Detention and Flawed Legal Process

The athlete was taken into custody in March 2020. The accusations against him comprised “causing deterioration on Earth through arson and ruin of state assets”. His ruling has been reversed multiple times but on 4 October it was upheld on the third occasion. His trial was criticized as “deeply biased” by advocates and groups.

Appeal to International Body

The urging to stop the boxer's execution follows a 2023 statement to the United Nations official for human rights, endorsed by more than a hundred rights specialists and organizations, calling for measures to avert the athlete’s capital punishment.

Capital Punishment Escalation

According to findings, there is an “death penalty surge in the nation, which has achieved alarming proportions”. In 2023, authorities executed at least 853 people – a nearly half rise on the previous year. The year before, data showed nine hundred seventy-two capital punishments, representing the maximum count since two thousand fifteen. Over eight hundred people have been sentenced so far in the current year.

Activists and dissidents are victims, particularly in the aftermath of the the year 2022 demonstrations. Specialists say the regime have employed the capital punishment to suppress dissent, generate apprehension among the citizenry and reinforce their hold on power.