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In excess of 20 Olympic medal winners, mentors and other international athletes have put their names to a letter urging a stop to the death penalty of a champion boxer and coach, who is on death row in Iran.

Escalating Global Anger

Amid rising global condemnation over the country's expanding employment of the death penalty as a means of repression, the powerfully expressed statement denounces the Iranian regime's decision to uphold the capital punishment of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

The athlete, thirty, from the city in the northeastern region, was taken into custody for taking part in countrywide demonstrations in the year 2019 and indicted of aiding an dissident organization. He has passed five years in incarceration, where he has been tortured and confined in seclusion.

“Competition is intended to promote hope, unity, and courage,” the endorsers wrote. “The execution of a champion for his beliefs is a blatant attack on these principles and a caution to every athlete who dares to speak out.

Pattern of Killing Athletes

The appeal said that the boxer's case was not an isolated one and highlighted the nation's past of putting to death sports champions for their convictions, such as Habib Khabiri, skipper of the national football team, and a volleyball captain, captain of the women's volleyball squad. In 2020, a wrestling champion, a 27-year Iranian wrestling champion, was put to death.

Further signatories to the statement comprise a yachting pioneer, who skippered the inaugural all-female crew in a round-the-world competition and was the first woman to receive a prestigious yachting trophy; the former captain of the soccer side an athlete; and a sports figure, who was in the Iranian squad for the global tournament.

Arrest and Unfair Trial

Vafaei Sani was arrested in the spring of 2020. The allegations against him comprised “promoting decay on Earth through incendiarism and damage of public property”. His sentence has been overturned twice but on 4 October it was maintained on the latest review. His trial was condemned as “deeply biased” by advocates and organizations.

Call to UN

The appeal to prevent the boxer's death sentence is subsequent to a earlier appeal to the global human rights chief for human rights, backed by more than a hundred human rights experts and entities, urging measures to prevent the competitor's capital punishment.

Death Penalty Surge

Based on reports, there is an “death penalty surge in Iran, which has achieved alarming dimensions”. In 2023, authorities put to death at least over 850 people – a nearly half increase on 2022. Last year, data showed nearly a thousand executions, representing the highest number since 2015. Over hundreds of people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and dissidents are victims, notably in the aftermath of the 2022 demonstrations. Analysts say the Iranian authorities have utilized the death penalty to quell dissent, instil anxiety among the citizenry and tighten their hold on rule.