🔗 Share this article

Over 20 Olympic medal winners, trainers and other international athletes have put their names to a statement urging a end to the capital punishment of a boxing titleholder and trainer, who is facing execution in the nation.

Growing Global Anger

Amidst growing international outrage over the country's expanding employment of capital punishment as a instrument of repression, the powerfully expressed appeal condemns the Iranian regime's decision to confirm the execution order of the boxing champion.

The athlete, thirty, from Mashhad in the northeastern region, was arrested for participating in national uprisings in 2019 and indicted of aiding an dissident organization. He has endured half a decade in incarceration, where he has been tortured and confined in solitary confinement.

“Sport is meant to inspire hope, unity, and courage,” the endorsers stated. “The capital punishment of a titleholder for his beliefs is a blatant attack on these principles and a warning to any competitor who dares to speak out.

Pattern of Executing Sports Figures

The statement noted that the athlete's circumstances was not an isolated one and underscored Iran’s record of sentencing to death competitors for their beliefs, including a football captain, skipper of the football side, and a volleyball captain, leader of the women's volleyball squad. In 2020, an athlete, a young Iranian competitor, faced the death penalty.

Other signatories to the letter include a yachting pioneer, who skippered the pioneering female-only team in a round-the-world competition and was the initial female to earn a esteemed yachting trophy; the ex- leader of the Australian football team an athlete; and a footballer, who was in the Iranian squad for the international competition.

Detention and Unfair Trial

The athlete was taken into custody in early 2020. The accusations against him entailed “causing deterioration on Earth through arson and ruin of public property”. His verdict has been annulled on two occasions but on October 4 it was upheld on the latest review. His legal proceedings was denounced as “grossly unfair” by human rights activists and organizations.

Urging to United Nations

The appeal to prevent Vafaei Sani’s execution follows a 2023 appeal to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, backed by more than 100 advocates and entities, calling for action to avert the competitor's capital punishment.

Death Penalty Surge

Based on reports, there is an “execution crisis in the country, which has attained shocking proportions”. In the year 2023, authorities put to death at least 853 people – a 48% increase on the previous year. The year before, records showed nearly a thousand executions, constituting the peak figure since the year 2015. Over eight hundred people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Activists and protesters are focus, particularly in the aftermath of the the year 2022 uprising. Experts say the regime have employed the capital punishment to quell protest, generate apprehension among the population and tighten their control on authority.