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Over twenty Olympic medal winners, mentors and further world-class competitors have endorsed a appeal urging a halt to the capital punishment of a boxing titleholder and instructor, who is on death row in the nation.

Increasing Global Anger

Amidst increasing international outrage over Iran’s escalating use of executions as a means of oppression, the strongly worded letter censures the authorities's ruling to uphold the execution order of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

Vafaei Sani, three decades old, from the city in the northern province, was detained for taking part in nationwide protests in 2019 and charged of supporting an dissident organization. He has endured five years in prison, where he has been tortured and confined in seclusion.

“Athletics is meant to encourage faith, togetherness, and bravery,” the supporters stated. “The execution of a winner for his beliefs is a blatant attack on these ideals and a caution to all sportspeople who attempts to speak out.

Pattern of Executing Sports Figures

The letter noted that Vafaei Sani’s situation was not unique and emphasized the country's past of executing competitors for their convictions, including a football captain, skipper of the soccer squad, and a volleyball captain, skipper of the female volleyball side. In 2020, an athlete, a young national competitor, was also executed.

Further signatories to the letter consist of Tracy Edwards, who skippered the pioneering female-only team in a global yacht race and was the pioneering lady to earn a prestigious sailing award; the previous captain of the soccer side Craig Foster; and a footballer, who was in the Iranian squad for the 1978 World Cup.

Apprehension and Unjust Proceedings

The athlete was arrested in March 2020. The charges against him included “spreading corruption on Earth through incendiarism and ruin of state assets”. His verdict has been overturned on two occasions but on October 4 it was maintained on the latest review. His court case was denounced as “highly unjust” by advocates and organizations.

Urging to United Nations

The call to prevent the boxer's execution is subsequent to a earlier statement to the UN high commissioner for human rights, backed by more than a hundred rights specialists and groups, demanding intervention to prevent the sports figure's execution.

Death Penalty Surge

Based on findings, there is an “death penalty surge in the country, which has reached shocking dimensions”. In two thousand twenty-three, officials put to death at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a nearly half surge on 2022. The year before, records showed nearly a thousand deaths, marking the highest number since 2015. Over hundreds of people have been executed so far in 2025.

Dissidents and dissidents are victims, especially in the wake of the 2022's uprising. Specialists say the Iranian authorities have employed the death penalty to suppress opposition, instil anxiety among the citizenry and reinforce their grip on power.