🔗 Share this article

More than twenty Olympic medallists, coaches and other global sports figures have endorsed a letter urging a end to the capital punishment of a boxing titleholder and instructor, who is sentenced to die in the nation.

Escalating Worldwide Condemnation

Amid rising international outrage over Iran’s expanding employment of capital punishment as a tool of suppression, the powerfully expressed letter censures the authorities's ruling to maintain the death sentence of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

Vafaei Sani, three decades old, from the city in the northern province, was arrested for participating in national uprisings in two thousand nineteen and indicted of aiding an dissident organization. He has spent 60 months in prison, where he has been abused and confined in solitary confinement.

“Athletics is intended to promote hope, unity, and bravery,” the signatories wrote. “The execution of a winner for his beliefs is a clear violation on these principles and a admonition to any competitor who dares to speak out.

Record of Putting to Death Athletes

The letter noted that the athlete's circumstances was not an isolated one and emphasized the country's history of sentencing to death sports champions for their convictions, for example Habib Khabiri, captain of the football side, and a volleyball captain, skipper of the female volleyball side. In the year 2020, an athlete, a 27-year Iranian competitor, faced the death penalty.

Additional supporters to the letter include a yachting pioneer, who skippered the pioneering female-only team in a global yacht race and was the first woman to earn a renowned yachting trophy; the previous skipper of the national squad an athlete; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the Iranian squad for the 1978 World Cup.

Arrest and Unfair Trial

Vafaei Sani was taken into custody in the spring of 2020. The charges against him entailed “spreading corruption on Earth through fire-setting and ruin of state assets”. His ruling has been annulled on two occasions but on 4 October it was confirmed on the third attempt. His court case was criticized as “highly unjust” by rights defenders and bodies.

Appeal to United Nations

The appeal to stop the boxer's capital punishment is subsequent to a previous appeal to the global human rights chief for rights, backed by over a hundred advocates and entities, calling for action to stop the competitor's execution.

Death Penalty Surge

Based on data, there is an “execution crisis in the nation, which has reached alarming levels”. In two thousand twenty-three, authorities sentenced at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a nearly half increase on the previous year. The year before, data showed nearly a thousand deaths, representing the maximum count since two thousand fifteen. Over 800 people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and opponents are victims, particularly in the aftermath of the 2022 demonstrations. Specialists say the Iranian authorities have utilized the death penalty to suppress dissent, create anxiety among the population and strengthen their hold on power.