🔗 Share this article Sports Champions Call on Iranian Authorities to Halt Death Sentence of Boxing Star Over twenty Olympic champions, coaches and other international athletes have endorsed a appeal demanding a end to the death penalty of a boxing champion and instructor, who is sentenced to die in the country. Growing Worldwide Condemnation Amid growing international outrage over the country's increasing application of executions as a means of oppression, the powerfully expressed statement condemns the Iranian regime's decision to maintain the death sentence of the athlete. The boxer, three decades old, from the city in the northern province, was arrested for being involved in nationwide protests in the year 2019 and accused of backing an resistance movement. He has spent half a decade in detention, where he has been tortured and confined in seclusion. “Athletics is designed to encourage hope, solidarity, and courage,” the supporters stated. “The capital punishment of a titleholder for his beliefs is a blatant attack on these principles and a warning to all sportspeople who attempts to speak out. History of Putting to Death Competitors The letter noted that the boxer's situation was not unique and underscored the nation's past of executing sports champions for their convictions, including a national team leader, skipper of the national football team, and a volleyball captain, skipper of the female volleyball side. In the year 2020, Navid Afkari, a young Iranian sports titleholder, was also executed. Other endorsers to the statement consist of a yachting pioneer, who skippered the inaugural all-female crew in a international sailing event and was the first woman to receive a renowned yachting trophy; the former skipper of the Australian football team Craig Foster; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the Iranian squad for the 1978 World Cup. Detention and Flawed Legal Process The athlete was arrested in early 2020. The allegations against him included “promoting decay on Earth through incendiarism and ruin of government belongings”. His verdict has been overturned twice but on October 4 it was confirmed on the latest review. His legal proceedings was criticized as “highly unjust” by rights defenders and organizations. Appeal to UN The call to stop the athlete's capital punishment follows a 2023 letter to the United Nations official for freedoms, endorsed by in excess of one hundred advocates and organizations, demanding intervention to stop the competitor's execution. Execution Crisis Based on data, there is an “capital punishment escalation in the country, which has achieved shocking dimensions”. In 2023, authorities sentenced at least over 850 people – a 48% surge on the previous year. The year before, data showed nine hundred seventy-two deaths, marking the maximum count since 2015. More than 800 people have been executed so far in 2025. Political prisoners and opponents are targets, notably in the wake of the 2022 demonstrations. Experts say the regime have used the executions to suppress opposition, create fear among the population and tighten their hold on power.