🔗 Share this article

More than 20 Olympic medal winners, mentors and further global sports figures have signed a letter urging a stop to the execution of a champion boxer and instructor, who is facing execution in the nation.

Increasing Worldwide Condemnation

Amidst growing worldwide anger over the country's escalating use of capital punishment as a tool of suppression, the strongly worded statement denounces the government's verdict to uphold the capital punishment of the boxing champion.

The athlete, thirty, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was taken into custody for being involved in nationwide protests in two thousand nineteen and charged of aiding an opposition group. He has endured five years in prison, where he has been mistreated and held in seclusion.

“Competition is designed to inspire hope, solidarity, and bravery,” the endorsers stated. “The capital punishment of a winner for his opinions is a direct assault on these ideals and a caution to every athlete who attempts to express dissent.

History of Executing Competitors

The appeal noted that the boxer's circumstances was not unique and highlighted Iran’s history of executing competitors for their beliefs, for example a football captain, skipper of the soccer squad, and Fourouzan Abdi, skipper of the national women’s volleyball team. In two thousand twenty, an athlete, a 27-year-old national competitor, faced the death penalty.

Additional signatories to the letter comprise a sailing champion, who led the pioneering women's squad in a international sailing event and was the first woman to receive a renowned sailing award; the previous leader of the Australian football team Craig Foster; and a sports figure, who was in the country's selection for the global tournament.

Detention and Flawed Legal Process

Vafaei Sani was detained in the spring of 2020. The allegations against him comprised “causing deterioration on Earth through fire-setting and damage of public property”. His ruling has been overturned multiple times but on October 4 it was maintained on the latest review. His legal proceedings was condemned as “highly unjust” by rights defenders and bodies.

Urging to International Body

The call to prevent Vafaei Sani’s execution is subsequent to a previous appeal to the United Nations official for freedoms, signed by in excess of a hundred rights specialists and groups, calling for intervention to stop the athlete’s capital punishment.

Death Penalty Surge

According to reports, there is an “execution crisis in the country, which has attained shocking levels”. In 2023, the government put to death at least over 850 people – a nearly half surge on the previous year. The year before, data showed nine hundred seventy-two executions, representing the highest number since 2015. Over eight hundred people have been put to death so far in 2025.

Activists and protesters are victims, particularly in the wake of the 2022's protests. Specialists say the government have used the executions to quell dissent, create apprehension among the public and strengthen their grip on rule.