🔗 Share this article Sports Champions Urge on Iranian Authorities to Prevent Death Sentence of Boxing Star In excess of 20 Olympic medallists, trainers and other international athletes have put their names to a letter urging a end to the execution of a boxing titleholder and coach, who is on death row in the country. Escalating International Outrage Amidst rising international outrage over the nation's expanding employment of the death penalty as a tool of repression, the powerfully expressed statement denounces the authorities's decision to uphold the execution order of the boxing champion. The athlete, thirty, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was taken into custody for taking part in national uprisings in the year 2019 and charged of supporting an resistance movement. He has spent half a decade in prison, where he has been abused and held in seclusion. “Athletics is intended to promote faith, unity, and fortitude,” the signatories expressed. “The death penalty of a champion for his beliefs is a blatant attack on these values and a warning to all sportspeople who dares to express dissent. History of Executing Competitors The statement pointed out that the athlete's circumstances was not an isolated one and underscored Iran’s history of sentencing to death athletes for their beliefs, for example a national team leader, skipper of the soccer squad, and Fourouzan Abdi, leader of the women's volleyball squad. In the year 2020, a wrestling champion, a young Iranian competitor, was put to death. Further signatories to the statement comprise a sailing champion, who led the inaugural female-only team in a round-the-world competition and was the initial female to be awarded a renowned yachting trophy; the previous skipper of the soccer side an athlete; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the national team for the international competition. Apprehension and Unfair Trial The boxer was arrested in March 2020. The accusations against him comprised “causing deterioration on Earth through arson and destruction of public property”. His sentence has been annulled twice but on 4 October it was confirmed on the third occasion. His court case was condemned as “grossly unfair” by human rights activists and organizations. Appeal to International Body The call to prevent the boxer's capital punishment comes after a 2023 letter to the United Nations official for freedoms, signed by over 100 human rights experts and organizations, demanding action to prevent the competitor's capital punishment. Death Penalty Surge As per reports, there is an “death penalty surge in the country, which has attained shocking proportions”. In two thousand twenty-three, authorities sentenced at least 853 people – a forty-eight percent rise on 2022. In the prior period, records showed nine hundred seventy-two capital punishments, representing the maximum count since two thousand fifteen. Over 800 people have been executed so far in 2025. Political prisoners and dissidents are victims, especially in the aftermath of the 2022's uprising. Experts say the regime have employed the capital punishment to stifle dissent, create anxiety among the population and tighten their grip on authority.