🔗 Share this article

Over 20 Olympic medal winners, coaches and further international athletes have endorsed a statement calling for a end to the death penalty of a boxing titleholder and trainer, who is sentenced to die in Iran.

Escalating International Outrage

Amid rising worldwide anger over the nation's increasing application of the death penalty as a means of oppression, the forcefully phrased statement denounces the authorities's verdict to uphold the execution order of the boxing champion.

The athlete, three decades old, from the city in the northeastern region, was arrested for participating in countrywide demonstrations in two thousand nineteen and accused of backing an opposition group. He has spent five years in incarceration, where he has been abused and held in seclusion.

“Competition is designed to inspire optimism, togetherness, and courage,” the signatories stated. “The execution of a winner for his opinions is a direct assault on these values and a admonition to any competitor who ventures to speak out.

Pattern of Executing Athletes

The letter noted that the athlete's circumstances was not an isolated one and highlighted the country's record of sentencing to death athletes for their convictions, including Habib Khabiri, leader of the football side, and a women's sports leader, skipper of the national women’s volleyball team. In two thousand twenty, a wrestling champion, a young national wrestling champion, was also executed.

Further signatories to the appeal include a sailing champion, who skippered the pioneering women's squad in a round-the-world competition and was the initial female to receive a renowned yachting trophy; the previous skipper of the Australian football team an athlete; and a sports figure, who was in the national team for the international competition.

Arrest and Unfair Trial

Vafaei Sani was arrested in March 2020. The allegations against him comprised “spreading corruption on Earth through fire-setting and destruction of public property”. His verdict has been reversed multiple times but on the fourth of October it was confirmed on the third occasion. His legal proceedings was denounced as “deeply biased” by rights defenders and organizations.

Call to United Nations

The appeal to stop the boxer's death sentence comes after a 2023 letter to the UN high commissioner for rights, endorsed by more than one hundred rights specialists and entities, urging measures to avert the athlete’s execution.

Execution Crisis

As per findings, there is an “execution crisis in the nation, which has achieved horrific levels”. In the year 2023, the government sentenced at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a nearly half surge on 2022. In the prior period, records showed nearly a thousand deaths, constituting the peak figure since 2015. In excess of eight hundred people have been sentenced so far in the current year.

Activists and dissidents are victims, especially in the aftermath of the 2022 demonstrations. Specialists say the government have used the executions to stifle protest, generate anxiety among the citizenry and tighten their grip on power.