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Over 20 Olympic champions, mentors and additional global sports figures have endorsed a statement urging a end to the death penalty of a boxing champion and coach, who is sentenced to die in Iran.

Increasing International Outrage

During growing worldwide anger over Iran’s escalating use of capital punishment as a tool of suppression, the forcefully phrased appeal denounces the government's ruling to confirm the execution order of the athlete.

Vafaei Sani, 30, from Mashhad in the northern province, was detained for being involved in national uprisings in 2019 and indicted of supporting an opposition group. He has spent five years in prison, where he has been abused and held in solitary confinement.

“Athletics is intended to encourage optimism, togetherness, and fortitude,” the signatories wrote. “The death penalty of a champion for his opinions is a blatant attack on these principles and a warning to all sportspeople who dares to voice opinions.

History of Putting to Death Competitors

The letter noted that the athlete's situation was part of a pattern and emphasized the country's past of putting to death sports champions for their beliefs, for example a national team leader, captain of the soccer squad, and a volleyball captain, leader of the national women’s volleyball team. In 2020, Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old Iranian wrestling champion, was put to death.

Further signatories to the letter comprise a yachting pioneer, who skippered the pioneering female-only team in a round-the-world competition and was the pioneering lady to earn a esteemed sailing award; the previous captain of the soccer side Craig Foster; and a footballer, who was in the national team for the global tournament.

Arrest and Flawed Legal Process

Vafaei Sani was arrested in the spring of 2020. The charges against him entailed “causing deterioration on Earth through incendiarism and ruin of public property”. His ruling has been reversed multiple times but on October 4 it was confirmed on the third attempt. His trial was condemned as “grossly unfair” by human rights activists and bodies.

Call to UN

The call to stop the boxer's execution comes after a earlier appeal to the UN high commissioner for human rights, endorsed by more than a hundred rights specialists and organizations, demanding intervention to prevent the sports figure's death.

Capital Punishment Escalation

According to data, there is an “death penalty surge in the country, which has achieved horrific levels”. In the year 2023, the government put to death at least over 850 people – a forty-eight percent increase on the previous year. Last year, data showed nine hundred seventy-two deaths, marking the peak figure since 2015. Over eight hundred people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and dissidents are focus, notably in the aftermath of the 2022's protests. Analysts say the government have used the executions to quell protest, instil anxiety among the public and tighten their grip on authority.