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In excess of 20 Olympic medallists, mentors and further world-class competitors have signed a letter calling for a stop to the execution of a boxing titleholder and coach, who is on death row in the nation.

Growing Global Anger

During growing international outrage over the country's escalating use of capital punishment as a means of repression, the powerfully expressed letter censures the government's ruling to maintain the death sentence of the athlete.

The boxer, thirty, from Mashhad in the northeastern region, was taken into custody for participating in countrywide demonstrations in the year 2019 and charged of supporting an resistance movement. He has passed five years in detention, where he has been mistreated and held in isolation.

“Competition is designed to encourage optimism, solidarity, and bravery,” the signatories expressed. “The death penalty of a titleholder for his opinions is a blatant attack on these values and a caution to all sportspeople who attempts to express dissent.

Pattern of Executing Athletes

The appeal noted that the athlete's situation was not an isolated one and emphasized the country's history of putting to death competitors for their convictions, such as Habib Khabiri, leader of the soccer squad, and a volleyball captain, skipper of the female volleyball side. In the year 2020, a wrestling champion, a 27-year Iranian competitor, was put to death.

Other endorsers to the letter include Tracy Edwards, who led the pioneering women's squad in a global yacht race and was the initial female to earn a prestigious nautical honor; the previous leader of the Australian football team an athlete; and a footballer, who was in the Iranian squad for the international competition.

Apprehension and Unfair Trial

The boxer was taken into custody in March 2020. The accusations against him comprised “causing deterioration on Earth through fire-setting and ruin of public property”. His ruling has been overturned twice but on 4 October it was maintained on the third attempt. His trial was condemned as “grossly unfair” by advocates and bodies.

Appeal to International Body

The appeal to prevent the boxer's death sentence follows a 2023 letter to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, signed by over 100 advocates and entities, urging measures to stop the competitor's death.

Death Penalty Surge

Based on findings, there is an “execution crisis in the nation, which has attained shocking proportions”. In 2023, the government sentenced at least over 850 people – a 48% rise on the previous year. In the prior period, statistics showed 972 capital punishments, constituting the maximum count since the year 2015. More than hundreds of people have been sentenced so far in the current year.

Dissidents and protesters are victims, particularly in the aftermath of the 2022's demonstrations. Specialists say the Iranian authorities have utilized the death penalty to quell protest, generate apprehension among the population and tighten their control on power.