🔗 Share this article

Over two dozen Olympic champions, trainers and further global sports figures have endorsed a letter demanding a stop to the death penalty of a boxing champion and instructor, who is sentenced to die in the country.

Increasing Worldwide Condemnation

Amidst increasing worldwide anger over Iran’s expanding employment of capital punishment as a instrument of repression, the powerfully expressed appeal denounces the authorities's ruling to maintain the capital punishment of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

Vafaei Sani, thirty, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was arrested for participating in nationwide protests in the year 2019 and charged of supporting an opposition group. He has passed 60 months in detention, where he has been tortured and confined in solitary confinement.

“Athletics is designed to encourage optimism, togetherness, and bravery,” the signatories wrote. “The capital punishment of a titleholder for his political views is a direct assault on these ideals and a admonition to all sportspeople who dares to speak out.

Record of Executing Sports Figures

The statement noted that the athlete's situation was part of a pattern and highlighted the nation's record of sentencing to death sports champions for their views, for example a national team leader, captain of the national football team, and a women's sports leader, leader of the women's volleyball squad. In 2020, an athlete, a 27-year-old Iranian wrestling champion, faced the death penalty.

Further signatories to the statement comprise Tracy Edwards, who captained the pioneering women's squad in a international sailing event and was the initial female to receive a renowned yachting trophy; the ex- captain of the soccer side Craig Foster; and a sports figure, who was in the Iranian squad for the international competition.

Apprehension and Flawed Legal Process

The boxer was taken into custody in the spring of 2020. The accusations against him included “promoting decay on Earth through incendiarism and destruction of government belongings”. His sentence has been overturned multiple times but on October 4 it was upheld on the latest review. His trial was condemned as “deeply biased” by human rights activists and groups.

Appeal to International Body

The call to halt the boxer's execution is subsequent to a 2023 appeal to the global human rights chief for rights, backed by over a hundred rights specialists and entities, calling for intervention to stop the sports figure's execution.

Execution Crisis

According to data, there is an “death penalty surge in the nation, which has reached shocking dimensions”. In 2023, authorities sentenced at least over 850 people – a forty-eight percent increase on the previous year. Last year, statistics showed nine hundred seventy-two executions, marking the highest number since 2015. More than hundreds of people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Dissidents and dissidents are victims, especially in the wake of the the year 2022 demonstrations. Experts say the government have employed the capital punishment to suppress dissent, instil fear among the citizenry and reinforce their hold on power.