🔗 Share this article

More than two dozen Olympic medal winners, mentors and further international athletes have put their names to a statement demanding a end to the capital punishment of a boxing champion and coach, who is facing execution in the nation.

Escalating International Outrage

Amidst rising international outrage over the nation's increasing application of executions as a tool of suppression, the powerfully expressed statement censures the Iranian regime's verdict to confirm the capital punishment of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

The athlete, thirty, from the city in the northern province, was detained for being involved in national uprisings in two thousand nineteen and charged of backing an dissident organization. He has spent 60 months in detention, where he has been abused and confined in isolation.

“Athletics is designed to promote faith, solidarity, and courage,” the supporters wrote. “The death penalty of a titleholder for his political views is a blatant attack on these principles and a warning to every athlete who dares to express dissent.

Record of Executing Athletes

The appeal said that Vafaei Sani’s case was not an isolated one and emphasized the country's history of sentencing to death athletes for their views, including Habib Khabiri, leader of the national football team, and a women's sports leader, captain of the female volleyball side. In two thousand twenty, an athlete, a young national sports titleholder, faced the death penalty.

Other signatories to the statement consist of Tracy Edwards, who captained the inaugural female-only team in a global yacht race and was the initial female to receive a esteemed nautical honor; the ex- leader of the Australian football team Craig Foster; and a footballer, who was in the Iranian squad for the global tournament.

Detention and Unjust Proceedings

The boxer was taken into custody in the spring of 2020. The allegations against him included “causing deterioration on Earth through arson and destruction of government belongings”. His sentence has been annulled on two occasions but on 4 October it was maintained on the third occasion. His court case was denounced as “deeply biased” by rights defenders and organizations.

Call to UN

The urging to stop the athlete's capital punishment comes after a earlier letter to the UN high commissioner for human rights, backed by in excess of 100 advocates and entities, demanding measures to stop the competitor's death.

Execution Crisis

According to data, there is an “death penalty surge in the country, which has reached horrific proportions”. In 2023, the government sentenced at least 853 people – a nearly half rise on 2022. In the prior period, statistics showed 972 deaths, representing the highest number since the year 2015. In excess of hundreds of people have been executed so far in 2025.

Dissidents and dissidents are victims, notably in the aftermath of the 2022 uprising. Experts say the Iranian authorities have used the executions to stifle dissent, create anxiety among the public and tighten their hold on authority.