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Over 20 Olympic champions, coaches and further global sports figures have put their names to a appeal demanding a stop to the capital punishment of a boxing titleholder and coach, who is facing execution in the nation.

Escalating International Outrage

Amidst rising worldwide anger over the country's escalating use of executions as a means of repression, the forcefully phrased statement censures the authorities's decision to maintain the execution order of the boxing champion.

The boxer, thirty, from Mashhad in the northeastern region, was taken into custody for participating in national uprisings in the year 2019 and charged of aiding an opposition group. He has spent 60 months in incarceration, where he has been mistreated and confined in solitary confinement.

“Sport is intended to promote optimism, togetherness, and bravery,” the endorsers stated. “The death penalty of a titleholder for his beliefs is a clear violation on these values and a admonition to every athlete who dares to speak out.

Pattern of Putting to Death Competitors

The appeal noted that the athlete's situation was not an isolated one and underscored the nation's record of executing athletes for their views, such as Habib Khabiri, captain of the football side, and a women's sports leader, skipper of the women's volleyball squad. In 2020, Navid Afkari, a young national wrestling champion, faced the death penalty.

Additional signatories to the letter comprise a sailing champion, who led the inaugural all-female crew in a round-the-world competition and was the pioneering lady to be awarded a renowned yachting trophy; the former skipper of the soccer side a sports advocate; and a footballer, who was in the country's selection for the 1978 World Cup.

Detention and Flawed Legal Process

The athlete was detained in the spring of 2020. The charges against him included “causing deterioration on Earth through fire-setting and ruin of state assets”. His ruling has been reversed twice but on 4 October it was confirmed on the third occasion. His trial was condemned as “highly unjust” by advocates and organizations.

Appeal to United Nations

The call to stop the athlete's capital punishment is subsequent to a earlier appeal to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, endorsed by more than 100 human rights experts and organizations, calling for intervention to avert the athlete’s death.

Death Penalty Surge

According to findings, there is an “capital punishment escalation in the nation, which has attained horrific levels”. In two thousand twenty-three, the government executed at least over 850 people – a nearly half surge on the previous year. Last year, data showed nine hundred seventy-two executions, marking the maximum count since the year 2015. Over eight hundred people have been executed so far in 2025.

Activists and protesters are victims, particularly in the wake of the the year 2022 protests. Specialists say the regime have employed the capital punishment to suppress protest, generate fear among the population and reinforce their control on rule.