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In excess of 20 Olympic medal winners, coaches and other world-class competitors have put their names to a appeal calling for a halt to the death penalty of a boxing titleholder and instructor, who is on death row in the country.

Growing Worldwide Condemnation

Amidst rising global condemnation over Iran’s increasing application of the death penalty as a instrument of oppression, the strongly worded letter censures the authorities's ruling to uphold the execution order of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

Vafaei Sani, three decades old, from the city in the northeastern region, was detained for taking part in national uprisings in the year 2019 and accused of aiding an resistance movement. He has endured half a decade in detention, where he has been abused and held in seclusion.

“Sport is designed to promote faith, solidarity, and bravery,” the endorsers stated. “The capital punishment of a champion for his political views is a blatant attack on these ideals and a warning to any competitor who ventures to express dissent.

Record of Executing Athletes

The appeal said that the athlete's case was not unique and emphasized Iran’s history of sentencing to death athletes for their beliefs, for example Habib Khabiri, leader of the football side, and Fourouzan Abdi, leader of the national women’s volleyball team. In 2020, an athlete, a 27-year-old Iranian wrestling champion, was put to death.

Other endorsers to the letter comprise Tracy Edwards, who skippered the pioneering all-female crew in a international sailing event and was the pioneering lady to receive a renowned sailing award; the ex- captain of the national squad an athlete; and a footballer, who was in the Iranian squad for the 1978 World Cup.

Arrest and Unjust Proceedings

The athlete was arrested in March 2020. The allegations against him comprised “promoting decay on Earth through fire-setting and damage of public property”. His verdict has been overturned twice but on October 4 it was maintained on the third occasion. His trial was criticized as “grossly unfair” by human rights activists and bodies.

Urging to International Body

The appeal to halt Vafaei Sani’s capital punishment is subsequent to a earlier statement to the UN high commissioner for rights, endorsed by in excess of a hundred human rights experts and entities, calling for intervention to stop the competitor's death.

Death Penalty Surge

According to findings, there is an “capital punishment escalation in the nation, which has reached shocking dimensions”. In the year 2023, officials sentenced at least 853 people – a forty-eight percent rise on the previous year. The year before, data showed nine hundred seventy-two deaths, constituting the highest number since 2015. More than eight hundred people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Activists and protesters are focus, particularly in the wake of the 2022 demonstrations. Analysts say the Iranian authorities have employed the capital punishment to stifle protest, generate fear among the public and tighten their grip on power.