Over twenty Olympic champions, mentors and additional world-class competitors have endorsed a statement calling for a halt to the execution of a boxing titleholder and instructor, who is facing execution in the nation.
Amid growing worldwide anger over Iranâs expanding employment of the death penalty as a instrument of suppression, the strongly worded appeal denounces the authorities's decision to maintain the capital punishment of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.
The athlete, three decades old, from the city in north-east Iran, was detained for being involved in countrywide demonstrations in the year 2019 and indicted of backing an opposition group. He has spent five years in detention, where he has been tortured and confined in seclusion.
âSport is meant to promote faith, togetherness, and bravery,â the supporters wrote. âThe execution of a titleholder for his political views is a direct assault on these principles and a warning to every athlete who ventures to speak out.
The appeal pointed out that Vafaei Saniâs situation was not an isolated one and emphasized Iranâs record of sentencing to death sports champions for their beliefs, such as Habib Khabiri, captain of the soccer squad, and a women's sports leader, leader of the female volleyball side. In two thousand twenty, an athlete, a 27-year national competitor, faced the death penalty.
Additional signatories to the statement include a sailing champion, who skippered the first all-female crew in a round-the-world competition and was the pioneering lady to earn a renowned yachting trophy; the ex- leader of the national squad an athlete; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the national team for the international competition.
Vafaei Sani was taken into custody in early 2020. The allegations against him comprised âpromoting decay on Earth through incendiarism and ruin of state assetsâ. His sentence has been overturned on two occasions but on October 4 it was upheld on the third attempt. His court case was condemned as âhighly unjustâ by human rights activists and organizations.
The urging to prevent the athlete's death sentence follows a previous statement to the global human rights chief for rights, signed by over a hundred rights specialists and entities, demanding intervention to avert the competitor's capital punishment.
According to data, there is an âexecution crisis in the country, which has achieved horrific levelsâ. In two thousand twenty-three, authorities sentenced at least 853 people â a nearly half surge on 2022. In the prior period, statistics showed nearly a thousand deaths, constituting the maximum count since two thousand fifteen. In excess of hundreds of people have been executed so far in the current year.
Dissidents and protesters are victims, especially in the aftermath of the the year 2022 uprising. Specialists say the regime have used the death penalty to suppress dissent, instil anxiety among the citizenry and strengthen their grip on rule.
Elena Hartwell is a multidisciplinary artist and educator passionate about fostering creative communities in London.