🔗 Share this article

More than two dozen Olympic medallists, mentors and further international athletes have signed a appeal calling for a end to the death penalty of a champion boxer and trainer, who is on death row in the country.

Growing International Outrage

Amidst rising global condemnation over Iran’s escalating use of capital punishment as a instrument of repression, the strongly worded statement censures the authorities's ruling to uphold the capital punishment of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

Vafaei Sani, thirty, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was arrested for participating in countrywide demonstrations in two thousand nineteen and accused of aiding an dissident organization. He has spent five years in incarceration, where he has been tortured and kept in seclusion.

“Competition is intended to encourage faith, solidarity, and fortitude,” the endorsers wrote. “The execution of a winner for his political views is a direct assault on these ideals and a caution to all sportspeople who attempts to voice opinions.

Record of Executing Competitors

The appeal noted that the boxer's circumstances was not an isolated one and emphasized the nation's history of putting to death sports champions for their views, such as a football captain, skipper of the football side, and Fourouzan Abdi, skipper of the female volleyball side. In the year 2020, an athlete, a young Iranian wrestling champion, faced the death penalty.

Other supporters to the letter consist of a sailing champion, who skippered the first female-only team in a global yacht race and was the initial female to receive a prestigious yachting trophy; the former captain of the national squad an athlete; and a footballer, who was in the country's selection for the 1978 World Cup.

Arrest and Unfair Trial

Vafaei Sani was detained in March 2020. The charges against him included “promoting decay on Earth through arson and damage of public property”. His ruling has been reversed multiple times but on the fourth of October it was maintained on the third attempt. His legal proceedings was criticized as “deeply biased” by rights defenders and bodies.

Call to UN

The urging to stop the athlete's execution follows a previous statement to the UN high commissioner for rights, endorsed by more than a hundred advocates and organizations, demanding intervention to stop the sports figure's execution.

Execution Crisis

According to data, there is an “death penalty surge in Iran, which has attained horrific proportions”. In two thousand twenty-three, officials sentenced at least 853 people – a 48% surge on 2022. Last year, data showed nearly a thousand executions, representing the maximum count since the year 2015. More than eight hundred people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and opponents are focus, notably in the aftermath of the 2022 demonstrations. Experts say the regime have utilized the capital punishment to suppress protest, create fear among the citizenry and strengthen their hold on rule.