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More than 20 Olympic medal winners, mentors and further world-class competitors have signed a letter demanding a stop to the capital punishment of a champion boxer and instructor, who is sentenced to die in Iran.

Growing Global Anger

During rising global condemnation over Iran’s escalating use of capital punishment as a instrument of suppression, the powerfully expressed letter censures the authorities's decision to uphold the capital punishment of the boxing champion.

The boxer, thirty, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was taken into custody for participating in national uprisings in the year 2019 and charged of supporting an resistance movement. He has passed five years in incarceration, where he has been abused and confined in isolation.

“Competition is intended to inspire optimism, unity, and courage,” the signatories wrote. “The execution of a winner for his political views is a blatant attack on these principles and a admonition to any competitor who dares to voice opinions.

History of Putting to Death Competitors

The statement said that the boxer's circumstances was part of a pattern and emphasized Iran’s past of putting to death athletes for their beliefs, for example a national team leader, captain of the soccer squad, and a women's sports leader, leader of the national women’s volleyball team. In two thousand twenty, Navid Afkari, a 27-year national wrestling champion, faced the death penalty.

Additional supporters to the statement consist of a sailing champion, who captained the inaugural all-female crew in a international sailing event and was the initial female to earn a esteemed nautical honor; the previous leader of the Australian football team a sports advocate; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the Iranian squad for the international competition.

Apprehension and Flawed Legal Process

The boxer was detained in the spring of 2020. The allegations against him included “spreading corruption on Earth through incendiarism and damage of state assets”. His sentence has been reversed multiple times but on 4 October it was maintained on the third occasion. His court case was denounced as “grossly unfair” by advocates and bodies.

Urging to United Nations

The urging to stop the athlete's capital punishment comes after a 2023 letter to the global human rights chief for human rights, backed by more than 100 human rights experts and groups, urging action to prevent the athlete’s death.

Capital Punishment Escalation

According to findings, there is an “death penalty surge in the country, which has reached shocking proportions”. In the year 2023, the government sentenced at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a 48% surge on 2022. The year before, data showed nearly a thousand executions, marking the maximum count since 2015. Over hundreds of people have been executed so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and opponents are targets, especially in the wake of the the year 2022 protests. Experts say the government have employed the executions to stifle protest, generate anxiety among the citizenry and tighten their hold on rule.