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Over two dozen Olympic medal winners, trainers and other global sports figures have endorsed a statement calling for a halt to the capital punishment of a boxing champion and coach, who is sentenced to die in the country.

Growing Worldwide Condemnation

Amid rising international outrage over the country's escalating use of executions as a tool of suppression, the strongly worded letter censures the Iranian regime's verdict to maintain the execution order of the boxing champion.

The athlete, thirty, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was arrested for being involved in countrywide demonstrations in the year 2019 and charged of supporting an resistance movement. He has passed five years in prison, where he has been abused and held in solitary confinement.

“Competition is intended to promote hope, togetherness, and fortitude,” the endorsers expressed. “The death penalty of a winner for his opinions is a direct assault on these ideals and a admonition to every athlete who dares to voice opinions.

History of Putting to Death Sports Figures

The letter said that Vafaei Sani’s case was not an isolated one and highlighted the country's record of sentencing to death competitors for their convictions, such as a football captain, skipper of the national football team, and a women's sports leader, skipper of the female volleyball side. In the year 2020, an athlete, a 27-year-old Iranian competitor, faced the death penalty.

Other endorsers to the statement consist of a sailing champion, who skippered the first women's squad in a round-the-world competition and was the initial female to earn a esteemed sailing award; the former skipper of the Australian football team an athlete; and a footballer, who was in the national team for the international competition.

Apprehension and Unjust Proceedings

The boxer was arrested in the spring of 2020. The charges against him comprised “causing deterioration on Earth through fire-setting and destruction of government belongings”. His ruling has been annulled on two occasions but on 4 October it was confirmed on the third attempt. His court case was criticized as “deeply biased” by human rights activists and groups.

Call to International Body

The appeal to halt the boxer's capital punishment comes after a 2023 letter to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, backed by over 100 advocates and groups, urging measures to stop the athlete’s capital punishment.

Execution Crisis

According to findings, there is an “death penalty surge in the nation, which has attained shocking proportions”. In the year 2023, officials sentenced at least over 850 people – a nearly half rise on 2022. Last year, records showed 972 executions, representing the maximum count since two thousand fifteen. More than eight hundred people have been executed so far in 2025.

Activists and dissidents are targets, especially in the aftermath of the the year 2022 protests. Experts say the government have utilized the executions to suppress dissent, generate apprehension among the population and reinforce their control on power.