🔗 Share this article

Over 20 Olympic champions, coaches and additional global sports figures have signed a appeal demanding a end to the capital punishment of a boxing champion and trainer, who is sentenced to die in the nation.

Increasing Worldwide Condemnation

During increasing global condemnation over the country's increasing application of the death penalty as a instrument of oppression, the powerfully expressed appeal censures the authorities's verdict to uphold the death sentence of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

The boxer, 30, from the city in north-east Iran, was taken into custody for taking part in national uprisings in the year 2019 and charged of backing an dissident organization. He has passed five years in detention, where he has been mistreated and held in solitary confinement.

“Competition is designed to promote optimism, unity, and fortitude,” the endorsers stated. “The death penalty of a winner for his beliefs is a clear violation on these values and a warning to any competitor who dares to express dissent.

History of Putting to Death Sports Figures

The statement pointed out that the boxer's circumstances was not unique and emphasized the country's past of executing athletes for their views, for example a football captain, captain of the soccer squad, and Fourouzan Abdi, leader of the national women’s volleyball team. In two thousand twenty, an athlete, a 27-year national sports titleholder, faced the death penalty.

Further supporters to the statement consist of a yachting pioneer, who skippered the inaugural female-only team in a round-the-world competition and was the initial female to earn a esteemed nautical honor; the previous captain of the soccer side Craig Foster; and a footballer, who was in the Iranian squad for the international competition.

Apprehension and Flawed Legal Process

Vafaei Sani was detained in the spring of 2020. The accusations against him entailed “spreading corruption on Earth through arson and damage of public property”. His verdict has been overturned multiple times but on October 4 it was upheld on the third attempt. His court case was criticized as “highly unjust” by rights defenders and organizations.

Urging to International Body

The call to halt the boxer's death sentence is subsequent to a 2023 letter to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, backed by more than one hundred rights specialists and organizations, demanding measures to prevent the sports figure's death.

Execution Crisis

According to data, there is an “death penalty surge in the country, which has reached shocking dimensions”. In 2023, authorities put to death at least over 850 people – a 48% increase on 2022. The year before, records showed nine hundred seventy-two executions, constituting the maximum count since the year 2015. Over 800 people have been put to death so far in the current year.

Activists and dissidents are targets, especially in the aftermath of the the year 2022 uprising. Experts say the government have utilized the capital punishment to stifle dissent, create anxiety among the citizenry and strengthen their control on power.