🔗 Share this article Olympians Call on Iran to Halt Death Sentence of Champion Boxer More than 20 Olympic medallists, coaches and additional global sports figures have put their names to a statement calling for a stop to the capital punishment of a boxing champion and instructor, who is sentenced to die in Iran. Escalating International Outrage Amidst rising global condemnation over Iran’s expanding employment of capital punishment as a instrument of repression, the strongly worded statement condemns the Iranian regime's ruling to confirm the death sentence of the boxing champion. Vafaei Sani, 30, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was detained for being involved in nationwide protests in the year 2019 and indicted of supporting an resistance movement. He has endured 60 months in incarceration, where he has been mistreated and held in solitary confinement. “Sport is meant to promote faith, unity, and fortitude,” the signatories wrote. “The capital punishment of a champion for his beliefs is a blatant attack on these ideals and a warning to all sportspeople who dares to speak out. Record of Killing Athletes The statement said that Vafaei Sani’s case was not unique and highlighted the country's past of putting to death sports champions for their convictions, including a football captain, captain of the national football team, and a women's sports leader, skipper of the female volleyball side. In 2020, a wrestling champion, a young national competitor, was also executed. Other endorsers to the appeal consist of a sailing champion, who led the inaugural all-female crew in a global yacht race and was the initial female to earn a prestigious nautical honor; the ex- leader of the Australian football team Craig Foster; and a sports figure, who was in the country's selection for the global tournament. Apprehension and Unfair Trial Vafaei Sani was detained in early 2020. The charges against him comprised “promoting decay on Earth through arson and ruin of public property”. His verdict has been annulled on two occasions but on the fourth of October it was maintained on the third attempt. His legal proceedings was condemned as “grossly unfair” by advocates and organizations. Urging to International Body The appeal to stop Vafaei Sani’s death sentence comes after a 2023 statement to the global human rights chief for freedoms, signed by in excess of a hundred human rights experts and entities, urging action to avert the competitor's death. Death Penalty Surge Based on data, there is an “execution crisis in Iran, which has reached alarming proportions”. In 2023, officials sentenced at least 853 people – a 48% rise on 2022. In the prior period, data showed nine hundred seventy-two capital punishments, constituting the maximum count since two thousand fifteen. In excess of 800 people have been executed so far in 2025. Activists and dissidents are victims, especially in the aftermath of the the year 2022 uprising. Specialists say the Iranian authorities have utilized the capital punishment to suppress opposition, create apprehension among the population and reinforce their hold on authority.