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In excess of twenty Olympic champions, coaches and other world-class competitors have endorsed a letter demanding a halt to the execution of a boxing champion and coach, who is sentenced to die in the nation.

Escalating International Outrage

During rising worldwide anger over the nation's escalating use of executions as a means of oppression, the strongly worded statement censures the authorities's ruling to confirm the execution order of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

The boxer, 30, from Mashhad in the northeastern region, was arrested for participating in nationwide protests in the year 2019 and indicted of supporting an opposition group. He has endured five years in prison, where he has been abused and kept in seclusion.

“Sport is intended to inspire hope, togetherness, and bravery,” the endorsers wrote. “The capital punishment of a winner for his opinions is a direct assault on these values and a warning to all sportspeople who ventures to express dissent.

Record of Killing Sports Figures

The letter noted that Vafaei Sani’s case was part of a pattern and highlighted the nation's past of sentencing to death athletes for their beliefs, such as Habib Khabiri, skipper of the national football team, and Fourouzan Abdi, captain of the female volleyball side. In 2020, a wrestling champion, a young national wrestling champion, was put to death.

Other endorsers to the letter consist of a sailing champion, who captained the first all-female crew in a international sailing event and was the initial female to be awarded a esteemed yachting trophy; the previous captain of the soccer side an athlete; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the country's selection for the 1978 World Cup.

Detention and Unjust Proceedings

The boxer was taken into custody in March 2020. The charges against him included “causing deterioration on Earth through arson and ruin of public property”. His ruling has been reversed on two occasions but on 4 October it was confirmed on the third occasion. His court case was condemned as “grossly unfair” by advocates and groups.

Appeal to UN

The call to halt Vafaei Sani’s capital punishment is subsequent to a 2023 statement to the global human rights chief for human rights, signed by in excess of a hundred rights specialists and groups, calling for action to prevent the sports figure's execution.

Capital Punishment Escalation

According to findings, there is an “death penalty surge in the country, which has achieved horrific proportions”. In two thousand twenty-three, authorities sentenced at least 853 people – a nearly half increase on 2022. Last year, records showed 972 executions, constituting the maximum count since 2015. Over eight hundred people have been sentenced so far in the current year.

Activists and dissidents are victims, particularly in the wake of the 2022's uprising. Analysts say the government have employed the death penalty to quell dissent, create anxiety among the public and strengthen their hold on authority.