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More than 20 Olympic champions, coaches and other global sports figures have endorsed a appeal calling for a end to the death penalty of a boxing champion and coach, who is facing execution in Iran.

Increasing Global Anger

Amidst growing global condemnation over the nation's expanding employment of the death penalty as a means of repression, the powerfully expressed statement denounces the government's verdict to confirm the death sentence of the athlete.

The boxer, thirty, from Mashhad in the northern province, was arrested for participating in national uprisings in 2019 and accused of backing an opposition group. He has passed five years in incarceration, where he has been mistreated and kept in solitary confinement.

“Competition is intended to promote hope, togetherness, and fortitude,” the signatories stated. “The execution of a champion for his beliefs is a clear violation on these values and a admonition to every athlete who dares to speak out.

Record of Killing Sports Figures

The appeal noted that the athlete's circumstances was part of a pattern and highlighted Iran’s past of executing athletes for their beliefs, including Habib Khabiri, leader of the national football team, and a women's sports leader, leader of the national women’s volleyball team. In the year 2020, an athlete, a young national sports titleholder, was also executed.

Other supporters to the letter include a sailing champion, who captained the pioneering all-female crew in a global yacht race and was the initial female to receive a prestigious sailing award; the ex- captain of the national squad Craig Foster; and a sports figure, who was in the national team for the international competition.

Arrest and Unfair Trial

The athlete was taken into custody in the spring of 2020. The allegations against him entailed “causing deterioration on Earth through incendiarism and ruin of state assets”. His sentence has been reversed twice but on 4 October it was upheld on the third attempt. His legal proceedings was condemned as “highly unjust” by human rights activists and bodies.

Call to UN

The call to stop the boxer's execution is subsequent to a 2023 letter to the United Nations official for rights, endorsed by in excess of 100 rights specialists and organizations, urging intervention to prevent the athlete’s death.

Death Penalty Surge

Based on reports, there is an “execution crisis in the country, which has reached alarming dimensions”. In 2023, officials put to death at least over 850 people – a 48% surge on 2022. The year before, statistics showed nearly a thousand deaths, representing the maximum count since 2015. Over 800 people have been put to death so far in the current year.

Political prisoners and dissidents are targets, notably in the aftermath of the 2022 demonstrations. Analysts say the Iranian authorities have used the death penalty to suppress protest, create apprehension among the citizenry and strengthen their control on power.