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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Sarah Johnson

Olympians call on Iran to halt execution of boxing champion

A man poses with an outstretched fist as in a boxing jab stance
Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani was arrested for taking part in protests in 2019. The boxer and coach is the latest of several Iranian sports stars to face execution. Photograph: Iran Human Rights

More than 20 Olympic medallists, coaches and other international athletes, including the tennis player Martina Navratilova and the swimmer Sharron Davies, have signed a letter calling for a halt to the execution of a boxing champion and coach, who is on death row in Iran.

Amid growing international outrage over Iran’s escalating use of capital punishment as a tool of oppression, the strongly worded letter condemns the Iranian regime’s decision to uphold the death sentence of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

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