🔗 Share this article Sports Champions Appeal on Iran to Prevent Death Sentence of Boxing Champion In excess of 20 Olympic medal winners, mentors and other world-class competitors have endorsed a statement demanding a end to the capital punishment of a boxing champion and coach, who is sentenced to die in the nation. Growing International Outrage During increasing international outrage over the nation's increasing application of capital punishment as a means of suppression, the strongly worded appeal censures the authorities's ruling to maintain the capital punishment of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani. Vafaei Sani, three decades old, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was detained for being involved in national uprisings in two thousand nineteen and charged of supporting an opposition group. He has spent five years in prison, where he has been abused and confined in solitary confinement. “Competition is intended to inspire optimism, unity, and bravery,” the endorsers stated. “The execution of a champion for his opinions is a clear violation on these principles and a caution to all sportspeople who dares to express dissent. Record of Executing Athletes The letter noted that the boxer's case was not an isolated one and highlighted the nation's record of executing competitors for their convictions, such as Habib Khabiri, leader of the football side, and Fourouzan Abdi, leader of the women's volleyball squad. In two thousand twenty, Navid Afkari, a young Iranian sports titleholder, faced the death penalty. Additional supporters to the appeal consist of Tracy Edwards, who skippered the first female-only team in a global yacht race and was the initial female to receive a esteemed sailing award; the previous skipper of the national squad a sports advocate; and a footballer, who was in the country's selection for the global tournament. Detention and Unjust Proceedings The athlete was arrested in March 2020. The charges against him included “promoting decay on Earth through arson and ruin of government belongings”. His ruling has been reversed twice but on the fourth of October it was confirmed on the third attempt. His legal proceedings was criticized as “grossly unfair” by human rights activists and groups. Urging to United Nations The appeal to halt the athlete's death sentence follows a earlier letter to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, endorsed by more than 100 human rights experts and entities, urging measures to prevent the sports figure's capital punishment. Death Penalty Surge Based on reports, there is an “death penalty surge in the nation, which has achieved alarming proportions”. In two thousand twenty-three, the government sentenced at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a forty-eight percent surge on 2022. In the prior period, statistics showed nearly a thousand deaths, constituting the maximum count since the year 2015. In excess of eight hundred people have been put to death so far in the current year. Dissidents and dissidents are focus, notably in the wake of the the year 2022 uprising. Analysts say the regime have utilized the executions to quell opposition, instil apprehension among the citizenry and reinforce their grip on power.