Over two dozen Olympic medallists, trainers and additional global sports figures have put their names to a statement demanding a end to the death penalty of a boxing titleholder and coach, who is sentenced to die in Iran.
During increasing international outrage over the nation's escalating use of executions as a tool of oppression, the forcefully phrased appeal denounces the government's ruling to uphold the execution order of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.
The boxer, thirty, from the city in the northern province, was arrested for taking part in nationwide protests in two thousand nineteen and accused of supporting an dissident organization. He has spent five years in prison, where he has been mistreated and confined in seclusion.
“Sport is meant to promote optimism, solidarity, and bravery,” the signatories stated. “The execution of a champion for his political views is a direct assault on these ideals and a caution to any competitor who ventures to voice opinions.
The appeal noted that the athlete's situation was not an isolated one and emphasized the nation's past of sentencing to death sports champions for their beliefs, including a national team leader, captain of the football side, and a volleyball captain, skipper of the female volleyball side. In 2020, an athlete, a young national competitor, was put to death.
Additional signatories to the appeal include a sailing champion, who led the inaugural all-female crew in a round-the-world competition and was the pioneering lady to be awarded a renowned yachting trophy; the former captain of the national squad an athlete; and a sports figure, who was in the national team for the 1978 World Cup.
The boxer was arrested in March 2020. The allegations against him entailed “promoting decay on Earth through fire-setting and destruction of state assets”. His sentence has been reversed on two occasions but on 4 October it was upheld on the latest review. His court case was denounced as “highly unjust” by rights defenders and organizations.
The urging to prevent the boxer's death sentence comes after a 2023 statement to the global human rights chief for rights, backed by over 100 human rights experts and organizations, urging measures to stop the sports figure's death.
Based on data, there is an “death penalty surge in the nation, which has attained shocking proportions”. In the year 2023, authorities sentenced at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a 48% rise on the previous year. In the prior period, statistics showed nine hundred seventy-two executions, marking the maximum count since two thousand fifteen. More than hundreds of people have been executed so far in the current year.
Activists and opponents are targets, notably in the aftermath of the 2022's demonstrations. Experts say the Iranian authorities have employed the executions to quell protest, generate anxiety among the public and reinforce their control on power.
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