🔗 Share this article

In excess of twenty Olympic medal winners, trainers and other international athletes have put their names to a letter demanding a halt to the execution of a champion boxer and coach, who is on death row in Iran.

Growing Worldwide Condemnation

During increasing international outrage over the country's increasing application of executions as a means of repression, the forcefully phrased appeal censures the authorities's decision to maintain the execution order of the athlete.

The boxer, three decades old, from the city in the northeastern region, was detained for participating in nationwide protests in the year 2019 and indicted of backing an opposition group. He has spent half a decade in detention, where he has been abused and held in seclusion.

“Athletics is intended to promote faith, unity, and bravery,” the endorsers wrote. “The death penalty of a winner for his opinions is a clear violation on these principles and a warning to any competitor who dares to voice opinions.

Pattern of Killing Athletes

The appeal said that the athlete's situation was not unique and emphasized the nation's record of putting to death sports champions for their views, for example a football captain, skipper of the national football team, and Fourouzan Abdi, skipper of the national women’s volleyball team. In 2020, Navid Afkari, a young national competitor, was also executed.

Other signatories to the statement consist of a yachting pioneer, who captained the pioneering all-female crew in a international sailing event and was the pioneering lady to receive a renowned yachting trophy; the previous captain of the soccer side a sports advocate; and a footballer, who was in the national team for the international competition.

Apprehension and Unfair Trial

Vafaei Sani was arrested in early 2020. The accusations against him comprised “causing deterioration on Earth through fire-setting and ruin of public property”. His verdict has been overturned multiple times but on 4 October it was maintained on the latest review. His trial was condemned as “highly unjust” by advocates and organizations.

Appeal to United Nations

The call to halt Vafaei Sani’s death sentence follows a earlier appeal to the United Nations official for freedoms, signed by in excess of one hundred advocates and organizations, urging measures to stop the competitor's capital punishment.

Death Penalty Surge

According to reports, there is an “death penalty surge in Iran, which has reached horrific proportions”. In two thousand twenty-three, the government put to death at least 853 people – a 48% rise on 2022. In the prior period, statistics showed nine hundred seventy-two capital punishments, representing the highest number since 2015. More than hundreds of people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Activists and opponents are victims, particularly in the aftermath of the 2022's protests. Analysts say the Iranian authorities have utilized the executions to suppress protest, generate anxiety among the public and strengthen their hold on rule.