🔗 Share this article

More than 20 Olympic champions, mentors and additional international athletes have signed a letter calling for a halt to the capital punishment of a boxing champion and instructor, who is sentenced to die in the country.

Increasing Worldwide Condemnation

During rising worldwide anger over Iran’s expanding employment of the death penalty as a means of suppression, the powerfully expressed appeal condemns the government's verdict to uphold the death sentence of the boxing champion.

The athlete, thirty, from the city in north-east Iran, was taken into custody for taking part in countrywide demonstrations in 2019 and charged of backing an opposition group. He has endured 60 months in prison, where he has been tortured and held in isolation.

“Athletics is meant to inspire faith, unity, and courage,” the signatories stated. “The death penalty of a titleholder for his beliefs is a clear violation on these values and a caution to every athlete who ventures to express dissent.

Pattern of Putting to Death Competitors

The appeal said that the athlete's case was part of a pattern and highlighted the country's record of executing competitors for their beliefs, for example Habib Khabiri, leader of the soccer squad, and Fourouzan Abdi, captain of the female volleyball side. In 2020, an athlete, a 27-year Iranian sports titleholder, was also executed.

Other endorsers to the letter comprise a yachting pioneer, who led the inaugural women's squad in a round-the-world competition and was the initial female to receive a esteemed yachting trophy; the previous leader of the Australian football team a sports advocate; and a footballer, who was in the national team for the 1978 World Cup.

Apprehension and Flawed Legal Process

The boxer was arrested in early 2020. The charges against him entailed “causing deterioration on Earth through incendiarism and damage of state assets”. His verdict has been overturned twice but on October 4 it was confirmed on the third attempt. His court case was denounced as “grossly unfair” by advocates and organizations.

Call to United Nations

The appeal to halt the boxer's death sentence is subsequent to a earlier statement to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, backed by more than a hundred rights specialists and entities, calling for action to avert the sports figure's death.

Death Penalty Surge

Based on data, there is an “execution crisis in Iran, which has achieved horrific proportions”. In two thousand twenty-three, officials executed at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a nearly half rise on 2022. Last year, data showed 972 capital punishments, representing the peak figure since 2015. More than hundreds of people have been executed so far in the current year.

Activists and dissidents are targets, particularly in the wake of the 2022 protests. Specialists say the Iranian authorities have utilized the capital punishment to quell dissent, instil apprehension among the public and reinforce their hold on rule.