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More than twenty Olympic medal winners, coaches and other world-class competitors have endorsed a letter urging a end to the capital punishment of a boxing champion and instructor, who is on death row in Iran.

Escalating International Outrage

During rising international outrage over Iran’s increasing application of capital punishment as a means of suppression, the strongly worded statement censures the authorities's decision to confirm the execution order of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

The boxer, thirty, from Mashhad in the northern province, was arrested for taking part in countrywide demonstrations in 2019 and indicted of supporting an dissident organization. He has endured half a decade in detention, where he has been abused and held in seclusion.

“Competition is designed to inspire optimism, solidarity, and bravery,” the signatories stated. “The capital punishment of a titleholder for his beliefs is a blatant attack on these principles and a warning to all sportspeople who ventures to speak out.

Record of Killing Sports Figures

The statement pointed out that the boxer's circumstances was part of a pattern and underscored the nation's history of executing athletes for their convictions, including Habib Khabiri, captain of the football side, and a volleyball captain, captain of the national women’s volleyball team. In two thousand twenty, a wrestling champion, a young Iranian competitor, was also executed.

Other endorsers to the letter include a sailing champion, who led the first women's squad in a round-the-world competition and was the first woman to earn a renowned sailing award; the former skipper of the soccer side a sports advocate; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the country's selection for the global tournament.

Detention and Flawed Legal Process

Vafaei Sani was taken into custody in the spring of 2020. The accusations against him entailed “causing deterioration on Earth through incendiarism and damage of government belongings”. His sentence has been reversed twice but on the fourth of October it was maintained on the third occasion. His trial was condemned as “deeply biased” by human rights activists and organizations.

Appeal to International Body

The call to stop Vafaei Sani’s death sentence is subsequent to a earlier appeal to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, endorsed by over 100 human rights experts and organizations, urging intervention to prevent the sports figure's death.

Death Penalty Surge

Based on reports, there is an “death penalty surge in Iran, which has achieved alarming levels”. In 2023, authorities sentenced at least over 850 people – a nearly half increase on the previous year. Last year, statistics showed nearly a thousand executions, marking the peak figure since two thousand fifteen. More than hundreds of people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Activists and dissidents are victims, particularly in the aftermath of the 2022 protests. Experts say the government have used the executions to suppress dissent, create anxiety among the population and reinforce their control on authority.