🔗 Share this article Olympians Urge on Iran to Prevent Execution of Boxing Champion Over two dozen Olympic medal winners, trainers and other international athletes have signed a appeal calling for a halt to the execution of a boxing champion and instructor, who is facing execution in Iran. Escalating International Outrage Amidst growing international outrage over the nation's increasing application of capital punishment as a means of suppression, the strongly worded letter denounces the government's ruling to confirm the capital punishment of the boxing champion. The boxer, 30, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was arrested for being involved in nationwide protests in two thousand nineteen and charged of backing an dissident organization. He has spent half a decade in incarceration, where he has been tortured and confined in isolation. “Sport is meant to encourage optimism, unity, and fortitude,” the endorsers stated. “The execution of a titleholder for his political views is a clear violation on these values and a caution to all sportspeople who attempts to express dissent. History of Killing Sports Figures The letter said that the boxer's circumstances was not an isolated one and underscored the country's record of putting to death sports champions for their views, including Habib Khabiri, skipper of the national football team, and a volleyball captain, skipper of the national women’s volleyball team. In 2020, a wrestling champion, a young national wrestling champion, faced the death penalty. Other signatories to the statement include a sailing champion, who skippered the pioneering women's squad in a international sailing event and was the first woman to earn a esteemed yachting trophy; the former skipper of the soccer side an athlete; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the national team for the international competition. Apprehension and Unjust Proceedings The boxer was arrested in March 2020. The accusations against him comprised “causing deterioration on Earth through arson and damage of government belongings”. His sentence has been reversed on two occasions but on 4 October it was confirmed on the third occasion. His trial was condemned as “deeply biased” by rights defenders and bodies. Call to International Body The call to prevent the athlete's death sentence is subsequent to a earlier letter to the UN high commissioner for human rights, signed by in excess of a hundred rights specialists and entities, urging action to prevent the sports figure's execution. Capital Punishment Escalation According to data, there is an “death penalty surge in the country, which has attained alarming proportions”. In two thousand twenty-three, officials sentenced at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a forty-eight percent surge on the previous year. The year before, records showed nine hundred seventy-two capital punishments, representing the maximum count since the year 2015. More than hundreds of people have been executed so far in 2025. Political prisoners and protesters are targets, especially in the aftermath of the the year 2022 uprising. Analysts say the government have utilized the executions to suppress dissent, create fear among the citizenry and tighten their grip on power.