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More than two dozen Olympic medallists, trainers and further global sports figures have endorsed a appeal calling for a stop to the capital punishment of a boxing champion and coach, who is sentenced to die in Iran.

Growing Worldwide Condemnation

Amidst increasing international outrage over the nation's expanding employment of the death penalty as a tool of oppression, the forcefully phrased statement denounces the authorities's decision to maintain the execution order of the boxing champion.

Vafaei Sani, thirty, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was arrested for participating in countrywide demonstrations in 2019 and charged of supporting an opposition group. He has spent half a decade in detention, where he has been tortured and confined in isolation.

“Competition is meant to inspire faith, unity, and courage,” the supporters stated. “The capital punishment of a titleholder for his political views is a direct assault on these ideals and a admonition to all sportspeople who attempts to voice opinions.

Record of Putting to Death Athletes

The statement said that Vafaei Sani’s circumstances was not an isolated one and highlighted Iran’s past of executing sports champions for their beliefs, including a football captain, captain of the national football team, and a volleyball captain, leader of the female volleyball side. In the year 2020, Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old national sports titleholder, was also executed.

Other signatories to the appeal include Tracy Edwards, who skippered the inaugural all-female crew in a global yacht race and was the first woman to earn a prestigious sailing award; the ex- captain of the Australian football team a sports advocate; and a footballer, who was in the Iranian squad for the 1978 World Cup.

Detention and Unfair Trial

The athlete was taken into custody in March 2020. The accusations against him included “causing deterioration on Earth through incendiarism and damage of state assets”. His ruling has been reversed on two occasions but on the fourth of October it was confirmed on the third attempt. His legal proceedings was criticized as “deeply biased” by rights defenders and groups.

Call to International Body

The call to stop Vafaei Sani’s death sentence is subsequent to a previous statement to the global human rights chief for freedoms, backed by over a hundred advocates and groups, urging intervention to avert the sports figure's capital punishment.

Capital Punishment Escalation

According to findings, there is an “death penalty surge in Iran, which has attained shocking proportions”. In 2023, officials sentenced at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a 48% increase on 2022. The year before, statistics showed 972 executions, constituting the highest number since two thousand fifteen. More than eight hundred people have been put to death so far in 2025.

Activists and protesters are victims, notably in the aftermath of the 2022 protests. Analysts say the regime have used the death penalty to suppress opposition, create anxiety among the public and strengthen their control on rule.