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In excess of two dozen Olympic champions, mentors and other global sports figures have endorsed a letter calling for a halt to the execution of a champion boxer and instructor, who is facing execution in the country.

Escalating Worldwide Condemnation

Amid growing international outrage over the country's escalating use of the death penalty as a means of oppression, the powerfully expressed statement denounces the government's verdict to confirm the execution order of the athlete.

Vafaei Sani, thirty, from Mashhad in the northeastern region, was arrested for participating in nationwide protests in the year 2019 and indicted of supporting an resistance movement. He has passed five years in prison, where he has been abused and kept in isolation.

“Athletics is meant to promote optimism, solidarity, and courage,” the signatories expressed. “The execution of a winner for his political views is a direct assault on these principles and a warning to all sportspeople who ventures to express dissent.

Record of Executing Competitors

The statement pointed out that Vafaei Sani’s case was part of a pattern and highlighted Iran’s past of executing athletes for their convictions, including Habib Khabiri, captain of the national football team, and a women's sports leader, leader of the national women’s volleyball team. In 2020, an athlete, a young national competitor, was also executed.

Other supporters to the letter include a yachting pioneer, who led the inaugural all-female crew in a international sailing event and was the first woman to earn a renowned sailing award; the previous leader of the national squad a sports advocate; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the national team for the 1978 World Cup.

Apprehension and Unjust Proceedings

Vafaei Sani was detained in March 2020. The charges against him comprised “spreading corruption on Earth through incendiarism and destruction of government belongings”. His ruling has been annulled twice but on the fourth of October it was maintained on the third occasion. His court case was criticized as “highly unjust” by rights defenders and bodies.

Call to UN

The urging to halt the boxer's execution comes after a earlier letter to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, endorsed by more than 100 human rights experts and entities, calling for intervention to prevent the competitor's execution.

Execution Crisis

Based on data, there is an “death penalty surge in the nation, which has attained alarming dimensions”. In 2023, authorities executed at least 853 people – a forty-eight percent increase on 2022. In the prior period, data showed nearly a thousand capital punishments, constituting the maximum count since the year 2015. More than 800 people have been put to death so far in 2025.

Dissidents and opponents are victims, particularly in the wake of the 2022 protests. Experts say the regime have utilized the capital punishment to suppress dissent, instil apprehension among the public and strengthen their control on power.