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Over two dozen Olympic medal winners, coaches and other international athletes have endorsed a appeal calling for a stop to the death penalty of a boxing champion and trainer, who is on death row in Iran.

Growing Worldwide Condemnation

During increasing global condemnation over Iran’s increasing application of the death penalty as a instrument of suppression, the strongly worded appeal censures the government's decision to uphold the capital punishment of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

The athlete, 30, from the city in the northeastern region, was arrested for participating in countrywide demonstrations in the year 2019 and indicted of backing an opposition group. He has passed half a decade in incarceration, where he has been abused and kept in seclusion.

“Sport is designed to promote optimism, solidarity, and bravery,” the signatories stated. “The death penalty of a titleholder for his political views is a blatant attack on these values and a admonition to any competitor who dares to express dissent.

Record of Killing Athletes

The letter noted that Vafaei Sani’s situation was part of a pattern and underscored the country's record of executing sports champions for their beliefs, including Habib Khabiri, leader of the football side, and a women's sports leader, captain of the national women’s volleyball team. In the year 2020, an athlete, a young national wrestling champion, was put to death.

Additional supporters to the appeal consist of a yachting pioneer, who led the first women's squad in a international sailing event and was the initial female to earn a prestigious yachting trophy; the former leader of the soccer side an athlete; and a sports figure, who was in the country's selection for the 1978 World Cup.

Apprehension and Unjust Proceedings

The athlete was taken into custody in the spring of 2020. The allegations against him comprised “spreading corruption on Earth through incendiarism and ruin of public property”. His verdict has been reversed on two occasions but on 4 October it was confirmed on the third attempt. His legal proceedings was condemned as “grossly unfair” by advocates and groups.

Appeal to International Body

The appeal to stop the athlete's execution is subsequent to a earlier appeal to the United Nations official for human rights, signed by over 100 human rights experts and entities, demanding action to prevent the sports figure's execution.

Capital Punishment Escalation

Based on data, there is an “capital punishment escalation in the nation, which has reached shocking dimensions”. In two thousand twenty-three, authorities put to death at least 853 people – a forty-eight percent surge on 2022. The year before, records showed nearly a thousand executions, constituting the maximum count since the year 2015. More than 800 people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and protesters are victims, notably in the aftermath of the the year 2022 protests. Specialists say the Iranian authorities have utilized the death penalty to quell protest, create anxiety among the citizenry and tighten their grip on rule.