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Over 20 Olympic medallists, coaches and further world-class competitors have signed a letter urging a stop to the capital punishment of a boxing champion and trainer, who is on death row in the country.

Escalating International Outrage

Amidst rising global condemnation over the nation's increasing application of capital punishment as a tool of repression, the strongly worded letter condemns the government's decision to maintain the death sentence of the boxing champion.

Vafaei Sani, thirty, from the city in north-east Iran, was detained for taking part in nationwide protests in 2019 and accused of backing an dissident organization. He has endured 60 months in detention, where he has been mistreated and kept in seclusion.

“Competition is designed to encourage optimism, unity, and bravery,” the signatories stated. “The capital punishment of a champion for his beliefs is a blatant attack on these values and a caution to all sportspeople who attempts to speak out.

Pattern of Killing Sports Figures

The letter pointed out that the boxer's circumstances was not an isolated one and underscored the country's past of sentencing to death competitors for their views, for example a national team leader, leader of the national football team, and a volleyball captain, leader of the women's volleyball squad. In 2020, an athlete, a young Iranian wrestling champion, was also executed.

Other endorsers to the letter include a yachting pioneer, who captained the first women's squad in a round-the-world competition and was the initial female to be awarded a prestigious sailing award; the previous skipper of the Australian football team an athlete; and a sports figure, who was in the country's selection for the 1978 World Cup.

Detention and Flawed Legal Process

The athlete was taken into custody in March 2020. The charges against him included “promoting decay on Earth through incendiarism and ruin of government belongings”. His sentence has been annulled multiple times but on 4 October it was upheld on the third attempt. His court case was condemned as “grossly unfair” by rights defenders and organizations.

Urging to International Body

The appeal to halt the athlete's capital punishment follows a earlier statement to the United Nations official for freedoms, signed by in excess of 100 advocates and organizations, urging intervention to stop the competitor's capital punishment.

Execution Crisis

As per reports, there is an “death penalty surge in the country, which has reached horrific levels”. In two thousand twenty-three, officials executed at least 853 people – a 48% rise on 2022. Last year, records showed 972 executions, constituting the peak figure since 2015. In excess of 800 people have been sentenced so far in the current year.

Political prisoners and dissidents are targets, notably in the aftermath of the 2022's protests. Specialists say the Iranian authorities have used the death penalty to suppress protest, instil fear among the citizenry and tighten their hold on rule.