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More than twenty Olympic medal winners, trainers and additional world-class competitors have endorsed a letter calling for a stop to the capital punishment of a boxing champion and coach, who is on death row in Iran.

Escalating International Outrage

Amidst increasing international outrage over the country's increasing application of the death penalty as a means of repression, the strongly worded letter censures the government's decision to uphold the execution order of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

The boxer, three decades old, from the city in the northern province, was arrested for taking part in nationwide protests in two thousand nineteen and accused of supporting an dissident organization. He has endured half a decade in detention, where he has been mistreated and held in seclusion.

“Sport is meant to inspire faith, solidarity, and courage,” the supporters wrote. “The death penalty of a titleholder for his political views is a clear violation on these principles and a admonition to all sportspeople who attempts to express dissent.

Pattern of Killing Competitors

The appeal noted that Vafaei Sani’s circumstances was part of a pattern and emphasized the nation's record of putting to death athletes for their beliefs, such as Habib Khabiri, leader of the soccer squad, and a volleyball captain, captain of the women's volleyball squad. In 2020, a wrestling champion, a young national sports titleholder, was put to death.

Other signatories to the statement include a yachting pioneer, who led the pioneering all-female crew in a global yacht race and was the pioneering lady to earn a prestigious nautical honor; the ex- leader of the Australian football team a sports advocate; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the Iranian squad for the global tournament.

Detention and Unfair Trial

The athlete was taken into custody in March 2020. The accusations against him comprised “spreading corruption on Earth through incendiarism and ruin of public property”. His sentence has been reversed on two occasions but on 4 October it was upheld on the latest review. His court case was denounced as “deeply biased” by advocates and organizations.

Call to UN

The call to stop the athlete's capital punishment is subsequent to a previous appeal to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, backed by over one hundred rights specialists and organizations, demanding measures to stop the competitor's capital punishment.

Death Penalty Surge

According to reports, there is an “execution crisis in Iran, which has achieved horrific levels”. In 2023, officials put to death at least over 850 people – a forty-eight percent surge on the previous year. Last year, records showed 972 capital punishments, representing the peak figure since two thousand fifteen. In excess of hundreds of people have been executed so far in the current year.

Political prisoners and opponents are targets, especially in the aftermath of the the year 2022 uprising. Experts say the Iranian authorities have employed the executions to stifle opposition, create anxiety among the population and tighten their grip on authority.