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Over two dozen Olympic medal winners, mentors and additional international athletes have put their names to a letter calling for a end to the execution of a boxing champion and trainer, who is sentenced to die in the country.

Escalating Worldwide Condemnation

Amid rising global condemnation over the country's increasing application of executions as a means of oppression, the powerfully expressed statement denounces the Iranian regime's ruling to confirm the death sentence of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

The athlete, thirty, from Mashhad in the northeastern region, was detained for participating in nationwide protests in two thousand nineteen and indicted of aiding an opposition group. He has endured 60 months in prison, where he has been mistreated and kept in solitary confinement.

“Athletics is designed to promote hope, togetherness, and courage,” the endorsers expressed. “The execution of a titleholder for his beliefs is a clear violation on these ideals and a caution to any competitor who attempts to speak out.

History of Killing Competitors

The appeal noted that Vafaei Sani’s case was part of a pattern and underscored Iran’s history of executing sports champions for their convictions, for example Habib Khabiri, leader of the football side, and a women's sports leader, skipper of the women's volleyball squad. In the year 2020, a wrestling champion, a young national competitor, faced the death penalty.

Further supporters to the letter include a sailing champion, who captained the first women's squad in a global yacht race and was the first woman to receive a esteemed yachting trophy; the ex- skipper of the soccer side an athlete; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the country's selection for the 1978 World Cup.

Arrest and Flawed Legal Process

Vafaei Sani was taken into custody in the spring of 2020. The allegations against him included “promoting decay on Earth through incendiarism and ruin of public property”. His ruling has been reversed on two occasions but on the fourth of October it was maintained on the third attempt. His legal proceedings was denounced as “highly unjust” by human rights activists and bodies.

Urging to United Nations

The urging to stop Vafaei Sani’s execution comes after a previous statement to the UN high commissioner for rights, endorsed by in excess of one hundred rights specialists and groups, urging action to avert the competitor's death.

Capital Punishment Escalation

According to reports, there is an “execution crisis in Iran, which has attained horrific levels”. In 2023, officials put to death at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a forty-eight percent increase on the previous year. In the prior period, statistics showed nearly a thousand capital punishments, marking the maximum count since two thousand fifteen. More than eight hundred people have been executed so far in 2025.

Activists and protesters are targets, especially in the aftermath of the 2022's uprising. Specialists say the government have used the death penalty to quell opposition, instil apprehension among the citizenry and reinforce their grip on authority.