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In excess of 20 Olympic champions, trainers and additional global sports figures have put their names to a letter urging a stop to the death penalty of a boxing champion and trainer, who is on death row in Iran.

Increasing Worldwide Condemnation

Amidst growing global condemnation over the country's expanding employment of the death penalty as a tool of oppression, the strongly worded letter denounces the authorities's ruling to uphold the capital punishment of the athlete.

The athlete, thirty, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was detained for participating in national uprisings in two thousand nineteen and accused of supporting an opposition group. He has passed 60 months in prison, where he has been abused and kept in isolation.

“Sport is designed to promote hope, togetherness, and courage,” the supporters stated. “The capital punishment of a champion for his political views is a clear violation on these ideals and a warning to all sportspeople who dares to speak out.

Pattern of Killing Athletes

The appeal noted that the athlete's case was not an isolated one and highlighted the country's past of putting to death athletes for their convictions, including a football captain, skipper of the national football team, and Fourouzan Abdi, leader of the female volleyball side. In 2020, Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old Iranian wrestling champion, was also executed.

Additional endorsers to the letter include a yachting pioneer, who led the inaugural all-female crew in a global yacht race and was the initial female to be awarded a renowned nautical honor; the former leader of the soccer side a sports advocate; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the national team for the 1978 World Cup.

Apprehension and Unjust Proceedings

The boxer was detained in early 2020. The accusations against him comprised “causing deterioration on Earth through arson and damage of state assets”. His verdict has been reversed twice but on 4 October it was upheld on the third attempt. His legal proceedings was criticized as “highly unjust” by human rights activists and bodies.

Appeal to International Body

The urging to stop the athlete's execution comes after a earlier letter to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, signed by over 100 human rights experts and entities, calling for intervention to avert the athlete’s capital punishment.

Death Penalty Surge

According to findings, there is an “capital punishment escalation in the nation, which has attained horrific dimensions”. In 2023, authorities put to death at least over 850 people – a forty-eight percent rise on 2022. In the prior period, records showed nearly a thousand executions, constituting the highest number since two thousand fifteen. Over hundreds of people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and opponents are victims, particularly in the aftermath of the 2022 uprising. Analysts say the regime have employed the capital punishment to stifle dissent, create apprehension among the public and tighten their grip on power.