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Over two dozen Olympic medal winners, coaches and additional world-class competitors have endorsed a letter urging a stop to the execution of a champion boxer and instructor, who is on death row in the country.

Growing Global Anger

During growing worldwide anger over Iran’s increasing application of the death penalty as a tool of suppression, the forcefully phrased statement denounces the government's ruling to confirm the execution order of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

The boxer, three decades old, from the city in the northern province, was taken into custody for taking part in nationwide protests in the year 2019 and charged of supporting an resistance movement. He has passed five years in detention, where he has been mistreated and confined in solitary confinement.

“Sport is designed to promote hope, solidarity, and bravery,” the signatories expressed. “The execution of a champion for his opinions is a blatant attack on these ideals and a caution to any competitor who attempts to voice opinions.

Record of Killing Competitors

The appeal said that the athlete's circumstances was part of a pattern and emphasized Iran’s history of sentencing to death athletes for their convictions, such as a football captain, skipper of the football side, and a volleyball captain, leader of the women's volleyball squad. In the year 2020, a wrestling champion, a 27-year-old national competitor, faced the death penalty.

Additional supporters to the letter comprise a yachting pioneer, who led the inaugural women's squad in a global yacht race and was the pioneering lady to earn a prestigious nautical honor; the previous skipper of the national squad Craig Foster; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the Iranian squad for the 1978 World Cup.

Detention and Flawed Legal Process

Vafaei Sani was arrested in early 2020. The accusations against him included “spreading corruption on Earth through incendiarism and destruction of government belongings”. His verdict has been overturned twice but on October 4 it was maintained on the third attempt. His court case was criticized as “highly unjust” by rights defenders and groups.

Appeal to United Nations

The urging to prevent Vafaei Sani’s execution is subsequent to a 2023 appeal to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, signed by over 100 human rights experts and organizations, urging measures to avert the athlete’s capital punishment.

Execution Crisis

Based on reports, there is an “capital punishment escalation in Iran, which has achieved horrific dimensions”. In 2023, the government executed at least over 850 people – a nearly half increase on 2022. In the prior period, data showed nine hundred seventy-two executions, representing the highest number since 2015. Over 800 people have been executed so far in the current year.

Political prisoners and dissidents are targets, especially in the aftermath of the the year 2022 uprising. Experts say the government have utilized the capital punishment to quell protest, create apprehension among the public and tighten their control on rule.