🔗 Share this article Sports Champions Urge on Iranian Authorities to Prevent Execution of Champion Boxer More than 20 Olympic medal winners, mentors and further international athletes have signed a appeal calling for a end to the capital punishment of a boxing titleholder and instructor, who is on death row in the nation. Escalating Global Anger During rising worldwide anger over the nation's increasing application of executions as a tool of repression, the forcefully phrased appeal denounces the Iranian regime's verdict to maintain the execution order of the athlete. The athlete, 30, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was arrested for being involved in countrywide demonstrations in the year 2019 and indicted of backing an opposition group. He has spent 60 months in detention, where he has been tortured and held in solitary confinement. “Sport is meant to encourage hope, unity, and bravery,” the supporters expressed. “The execution of a winner for his opinions is a direct assault on these values and a admonition to every athlete who ventures to express dissent. Record of Killing Athletes The statement said that Vafaei Sani’s circumstances was not an isolated one and underscored the country's record of putting to death sports champions for their beliefs, including a football captain, skipper of the national football team, and a women's sports leader, captain of the national women’s volleyball team. In two thousand twenty, an athlete, a young Iranian sports titleholder, was put to death. Other signatories to the statement include a sailing champion, who led the inaugural all-female crew in a round-the-world competition and was the pioneering lady to be awarded a prestigious yachting trophy; the ex- skipper of the national squad Craig Foster; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the national team for the international competition. Arrest and Flawed Legal Process The athlete was detained in March 2020. The allegations against him included “causing deterioration on Earth through arson and destruction of public property”. His ruling has been reversed twice but on the fourth of October it was maintained on the latest review. His legal proceedings was denounced as “highly unjust” by human rights activists and organizations. Urging to UN The call to prevent the boxer's death sentence is subsequent to a previous letter to the UN high commissioner for rights, signed by over a hundred rights specialists and entities, demanding measures to avert the sports figure's execution. Execution Crisis As per data, there is an “execution crisis in Iran, which has reached shocking levels”. In 2023, officials executed at least 853 people – a nearly half surge on 2022. In the prior period, statistics showed nine hundred seventy-two deaths, representing the peak figure since two thousand fifteen. Over hundreds of people have been executed so far in the current year. Political prisoners and protesters are focus, particularly in the aftermath of the the year 2022 protests. Experts say the government have used the executions to suppress protest, create anxiety among the population and reinforce their grip on rule.