🔗 Share this article

More than twenty Olympic champions, coaches and additional international athletes have put their names to a letter urging a stop to the death penalty of a boxing titleholder and coach, who is on death row in Iran.

Escalating Worldwide Condemnation

Amid growing global condemnation over the country's increasing application of capital punishment as a means of oppression, the strongly worded statement censures the government's decision to uphold the death sentence of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

The boxer, thirty, from the city in the northeastern region, was detained for participating in nationwide protests in two thousand nineteen and indicted of supporting an dissident organization. He has endured five years in prison, where he has been abused and kept in seclusion.

“Competition is designed to promote optimism, solidarity, and bravery,” the signatories expressed. “The death penalty of a champion for his opinions is a direct assault on these values and a caution to any competitor who attempts to speak out.

Record of Putting to Death Sports Figures

The letter said that the boxer's case was not an isolated one and underscored the nation's record of putting to death athletes for their convictions, for example Habib Khabiri, captain of the national football team, and a volleyball captain, skipper of the women's volleyball squad. In 2020, Navid Afkari, a 27-year Iranian sports titleholder, faced the death penalty.

Further endorsers to the statement consist of a yachting pioneer, who captained the first female-only team in a global yacht race and was the pioneering lady to be awarded a esteemed yachting trophy; the former leader of the soccer side a sports advocate; and a sports figure, who was in the national team for the global tournament.

Apprehension and Flawed Legal Process

The athlete was arrested in early 2020. The accusations against him entailed “causing deterioration on Earth through arson and destruction of government belongings”. His verdict has been reversed multiple times but on the fourth of October it was confirmed on the third attempt. His legal proceedings was denounced as “grossly unfair” by advocates and organizations.

Call to UN

The appeal to stop Vafaei Sani’s execution follows a earlier appeal to the United Nations official for freedoms, signed by in excess of a hundred advocates and entities, urging action to prevent the competitor's death.

Death Penalty Surge

As per reports, there is an “death penalty surge in the country, which has achieved horrific dimensions”. In 2023, authorities put to death at least 853 people – a nearly half increase on 2022. The year before, statistics showed nine hundred seventy-two executions, constituting the peak figure since two thousand fifteen. More than eight hundred people have been put to death so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and opponents are targets, notably in the aftermath of the 2022's demonstrations. Specialists say the regime have employed the executions to quell opposition, instil anxiety among the citizenry and tighten their control on authority.