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Over 20 Olympic medal winners, mentors and further international athletes have endorsed a appeal calling for a stop to the capital punishment of a boxing champion and coach, who is on death row in the nation.

Increasing International Outrage

Amid growing international outrage over the country's escalating use of the death penalty as a means of repression, the forcefully phrased letter denounces the authorities's decision to maintain the capital punishment of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

Vafaei Sani, three decades old, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was taken into custody for participating in national uprisings in two thousand nineteen and charged of backing an resistance movement. He has endured 60 months in detention, where he has been abused and confined in solitary confinement.

“Athletics is intended to encourage optimism, unity, and fortitude,” the endorsers wrote. “The execution of a titleholder for his opinions is a clear violation on these principles and a warning to all sportspeople who ventures to voice opinions.

History of Putting to Death Sports Figures

The appeal pointed out that the boxer's circumstances was not unique and emphasized the nation's record of putting to death athletes for their views, including a football captain, skipper of the soccer squad, and Fourouzan Abdi, leader of the women's volleyball squad. In two thousand twenty, Navid Afkari, a 27-year national wrestling champion, was also executed.

Other supporters to the statement consist of Tracy Edwards, who led the inaugural women's squad in a international sailing event and was the first woman to be awarded a esteemed yachting trophy; the ex- captain of the Australian football team an athlete; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the national team for the global tournament.

Arrest and Unjust Proceedings

The athlete was taken into custody in the spring of 2020. The allegations against him included “promoting decay on Earth through incendiarism and damage of state assets”. His sentence has been reversed multiple times but on the fourth of October it was upheld on the latest review. His court case was condemned as “highly unjust” by rights defenders and bodies.

Call to United Nations

The appeal to prevent Vafaei Sani’s capital punishment follows a 2023 appeal to the global human rights chief for human rights, signed by over 100 rights specialists and groups, demanding action to stop the sports figure's capital punishment.

Death Penalty Surge

According to reports, there is an “death penalty surge in Iran, which has achieved horrific levels”. In two thousand twenty-three, authorities sentenced at least 853 people – a forty-eight percent rise on 2022. In the prior period, data showed nine hundred seventy-two executions, marking the maximum count since 2015. Over hundreds of people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Activists and dissidents are targets, notably in the aftermath of the 2022's protests. Analysts say the Iranian authorities have employed the death penalty to quell opposition, create fear among the public and tighten their hold on rule.