🔗 Share this article Olympians Urge on Iranian Authorities to Prevent Death Sentence of Champion Boxer Over twenty Olympic medal winners, trainers and additional international athletes have put their names to a appeal urging a end to the capital punishment of a boxing champion and instructor, who is on death row in Iran. Increasing International Outrage During increasing worldwide anger over the nation's increasing application of executions as a means of oppression, the powerfully expressed appeal censures the government's ruling to confirm the death sentence of the boxing champion. Vafaei Sani, three decades old, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was taken into custody for being involved in countrywide demonstrations in two thousand nineteen and indicted of backing an opposition group. He has passed five years in detention, where he has been tortured and confined in isolation. “Competition is intended to promote faith, solidarity, and bravery,” the endorsers wrote. “The capital punishment of a titleholder for his opinions is a blatant attack on these ideals and a admonition to every athlete who ventures to express dissent. History of Putting to Death Sports Figures The letter pointed out that Vafaei Sani’s circumstances was not an isolated one and highlighted Iran’s past of sentencing to death athletes for their beliefs, for example a football captain, skipper of the national football team, and Fourouzan Abdi, captain of the female volleyball side. In 2020, a wrestling champion, a 27-year-old Iranian competitor, was also executed. Additional supporters to the statement consist of a yachting pioneer, who skippered the first all-female crew in a round-the-world competition and was the initial female to receive a esteemed nautical honor; the previous skipper of the soccer side a sports advocate; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the country's selection for the international competition. Detention and Flawed Legal Process The boxer was taken into custody in early 2020. The allegations against him included “spreading corruption on Earth through fire-setting and destruction of state assets”. His sentence has been reversed on two occasions but on October 4 it was upheld on the latest review. His court case was condemned as “grossly unfair” by human rights activists and organizations. Appeal to UN The urging to halt Vafaei Sani’s execution follows a earlier statement to the United Nations official for freedoms, signed by over one hundred advocates and organizations, calling for action to stop the competitor's execution. Capital Punishment Escalation Based on data, there is an “execution crisis in Iran, which has attained alarming proportions”. In the year 2023, the government sentenced at least over 850 people – a 48% increase on 2022. The year before, records showed nine hundred seventy-two capital punishments, constituting the highest number since 2015. Over eight hundred people have been put to death so far in 2025. Dissidents and dissidents are focus, notably in the aftermath of the the year 2022 protests. Experts say the regime have used the capital punishment to suppress protest, create anxiety among the citizenry and strengthen their grip on authority.