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More than 20 Olympic medallists, mentors and further world-class competitors have put their names to a letter urging a stop to the death penalty of a champion boxer and coach, who is on death row in the country.

Escalating International Outrage

Amidst increasing worldwide anger over the country's increasing application of capital punishment as a means of suppression, the powerfully expressed statement denounces the authorities's verdict to maintain the capital punishment of the boxing champion.

The athlete, thirty, from Mashhad in the northeastern region, was detained for participating in countrywide demonstrations in 2019 and indicted of aiding an resistance movement. He has endured five years in incarceration, where he has been mistreated and kept in isolation.

“Sport is designed to encourage hope, unity, and courage,” the signatories expressed. “The capital punishment of a titleholder for his beliefs is a blatant attack on these ideals and a admonition to all sportspeople who attempts to express dissent.

History of Executing Sports Figures

The letter said that the athlete's circumstances was part of a pattern and emphasized the country's past of putting to death athletes for their beliefs, including a football captain, skipper of the soccer squad, and a volleyball captain, skipper of the national women’s volleyball team. In two thousand twenty, Navid Afkari, a 27-year Iranian sports titleholder, was put to death.

Other supporters to the letter include a yachting pioneer, who skippered the first women's squad in a international sailing event and was the first woman to receive a prestigious yachting trophy; the ex- skipper of the soccer side an athlete; and a footballer, who was in the country's selection for the global tournament.

Detention and Unfair Trial

The athlete was detained in March 2020. The accusations against him comprised “causing deterioration on Earth through arson and ruin of state assets”. His verdict has been overturned multiple times but on 4 October it was confirmed on the latest review. His court case was denounced as “highly unjust” by rights defenders and groups.

Urging to UN

The appeal to stop the athlete's death sentence comes after a 2023 statement to the global human rights chief for freedoms, signed by in excess of a hundred rights specialists and organizations, calling for action to prevent the competitor's capital punishment.

Execution Crisis

Based on data, there is an “death penalty surge in Iran, which has reached shocking proportions”. In 2023, officials sentenced at least over 850 people – a forty-eight percent increase on 2022. In the prior period, records showed 972 capital punishments, marking the peak figure since two thousand fifteen. More than eight hundred people have been put to death so far in the current year.

Political prisoners and protesters are targets, notably in the aftermath of the 2022 protests. Specialists say the government have utilized the death penalty to suppress protest, generate apprehension among the public and strengthen their grip on power.