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Over two dozen Olympic medal winners, trainers and other global sports figures have endorsed a statement urging a end to the death penalty of a champion boxer and instructor, who is sentenced to die in Iran.

Escalating International Outrage

Amid increasing global condemnation over Iran’s escalating use of the death penalty as a tool of repression, the forcefully phrased appeal condemns the government's verdict to confirm the death sentence of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

The boxer, thirty, from the city in the northeastern region, was arrested for participating in nationwide protests in 2019 and charged of supporting an resistance movement. He has spent half a decade in prison, where he has been tortured and confined in seclusion.

“Competition is designed to promote faith, togetherness, and bravery,” the endorsers expressed. “The death penalty of a champion for his beliefs is a blatant attack on these ideals and a admonition to any competitor who attempts to speak out.

Pattern of Executing Competitors

The statement pointed out that Vafaei Sani’s circumstances was not unique and highlighted the country's past of sentencing to death athletes for their convictions, for example Habib Khabiri, captain of the football side, and a volleyball captain, skipper of the female volleyball side. In the year 2020, a wrestling champion, a young Iranian wrestling champion, was put to death.

Other signatories to the statement consist of a yachting pioneer, who captained the inaugural women's squad in a international sailing event and was the first woman to receive a esteemed yachting trophy; the ex- skipper of the Australian football team Craig Foster; and a footballer, who was in the national team for the 1978 World Cup.

Arrest and Flawed Legal Process

Vafaei Sani was arrested in the spring of 2020. The charges against him included “causing deterioration on Earth through incendiarism and destruction of public property”. His verdict has been annulled twice but on 4 October it was upheld on the latest review. His legal proceedings was condemned as “deeply biased” by advocates and bodies.

Urging to International Body

The appeal to prevent the boxer's capital punishment comes after a 2023 statement to the United Nations official for freedoms, signed by more than a hundred human rights experts and groups, demanding action to stop the sports figure's capital punishment.

Death Penalty Surge

According to data, there is an “capital punishment escalation in the nation, which has reached shocking dimensions”. In the year 2023, authorities put to death at least over 850 people – a 48% increase on the previous year. The year before, records showed nine hundred seventy-two executions, marking the maximum count since 2015. Over eight hundred people have been executed so far in 2025.

Activists and protesters are victims, particularly in the aftermath of the 2022's protests. Experts say the regime have utilized the capital punishment to quell opposition, create fear among the population and tighten their grip on authority.