🔗 Share this article

More than two dozen Olympic champions, trainers and other world-class competitors have put their names to a letter calling for a halt to the execution of a boxing titleholder and trainer, who is on death row in the nation.

Growing Global Anger

During growing global condemnation over the country's escalating use of the death penalty as a tool of repression, the powerfully expressed statement denounces the government's verdict to maintain the death sentence of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

Vafaei Sani, thirty, from the city in the northern province, was taken into custody for being involved in nationwide protests in 2019 and accused of backing an opposition group. He has spent half a decade in incarceration, where he has been mistreated and confined in isolation.

“Competition is designed to inspire optimism, togetherness, and fortitude,” the signatories stated. “The capital punishment of a champion for his political views is a clear violation on these principles and a admonition to all sportspeople who attempts to speak out.

History of Killing Competitors

The appeal said that Vafaei Sani’s case was not an isolated one and highlighted the nation's history of executing athletes for their convictions, for example a football captain, skipper of the soccer squad, and Fourouzan Abdi, skipper of the national women’s volleyball team. In two thousand twenty, an athlete, a 27-year-old Iranian sports titleholder, faced the death penalty.

Other supporters to the statement consist of a yachting pioneer, who led the inaugural women's squad in a global yacht race and was the initial female to be awarded a esteemed sailing award; the previous skipper of the Australian football team Craig Foster; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the national team for the 1978 World Cup.

Detention and Unjust Proceedings

The boxer was taken into custody in March 2020. The allegations against him comprised “spreading corruption on Earth through incendiarism and destruction of government belongings”. His sentence has been annulled twice but on 4 October it was upheld on the third attempt. His legal proceedings was condemned as “deeply biased” by advocates and organizations.

Call to International Body

The appeal to halt the boxer's death sentence follows a earlier appeal to the United Nations official for human rights, signed by more than 100 rights specialists and groups, calling for measures to avert the sports figure's capital punishment.

Death Penalty Surge

Based on findings, there is an “death penalty surge in Iran, which has attained horrific proportions”. In 2023, officials put to death at least 853 people – a nearly half rise on 2022. Last year, data showed 972 executions, marking the maximum count since the year 2015. In excess of hundreds of people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Dissidents and protesters are victims, particularly in the wake of the 2022's uprising. Analysts say the Iranian authorities have utilized the capital punishment to suppress dissent, generate fear among the citizenry and reinforce their hold on rule.