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Over two dozen Olympic medal winners, mentors and additional world-class competitors have put their names to a statement calling for a stop to the execution of a champion boxer and trainer, who is on death row in the nation.

Growing International Outrage

Amidst increasing international outrage over the country's expanding employment of the death penalty as a instrument of repression, the powerfully expressed letter condemns the Iranian regime's ruling to uphold the death sentence of the boxing champion.

The athlete, thirty, from the city in north-east Iran, was taken into custody for being involved in nationwide protests in 2019 and charged of supporting an resistance movement. He has endured 60 months in incarceration, where he has been mistreated and confined in solitary confinement.

“Sport is meant to encourage hope, unity, and bravery,” the endorsers stated. “The capital punishment of a winner for his beliefs is a clear violation on these values and a warning to all sportspeople who ventures to speak out.

Record of Executing Competitors

The letter said that the athlete's circumstances was part of a pattern and highlighted Iran’s history of sentencing to death sports champions for their beliefs, including Habib Khabiri, skipper of the soccer squad, and a volleyball captain, skipper of the national women’s volleyball team. In the year 2020, a wrestling champion, a 27-year-old national wrestling champion, faced the death penalty.

Further signatories to the statement consist of a sailing champion, who skippered the first all-female crew in a global yacht race and was the initial female to be awarded a prestigious yachting trophy; the ex- leader of the Australian football team Craig Foster; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the Iranian squad for the international competition.

Apprehension and Unjust Proceedings

The athlete was arrested in March 2020. The accusations against him included “spreading corruption on Earth through fire-setting and ruin of state assets”. His verdict has been overturned on two occasions but on October 4 it was upheld on the third attempt. His court case was denounced as “deeply biased” by advocates and organizations.

Urging to International Body

The call to prevent the boxer's execution comes after a 2023 letter to the global human rights chief for freedoms, backed by over 100 advocates and groups, demanding measures to avert the sports figure's death.

Capital Punishment Escalation

According to reports, there is an “death penalty surge in Iran, which has achieved shocking proportions”. In 2023, officials put to death at least over 850 people – a 48% rise on 2022. In the prior period, statistics showed nearly a thousand deaths, constituting the peak figure since the year 2015. More than 800 people have been put to death so far in 2025.

Activists and opponents are targets, notably in the aftermath of the 2022's protests. Specialists say the Iranian authorities have utilized the executions to quell dissent, generate anxiety among the citizenry and strengthen their control on authority.