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Over 20 Olympic medal winners, trainers and other global sports figures have endorsed a letter calling for a stop to the execution of a champion boxer and instructor, who is sentenced to die in the country.

Increasing Global Anger

Amidst increasing international outrage over Iran’s escalating use of capital punishment as a tool of oppression, the strongly worded appeal condemns the authorities's decision to maintain the capital punishment of the athlete.

Vafaei Sani, 30, from the city in the northeastern region, was taken into custody for participating in nationwide protests in the year 2019 and accused of aiding an dissident organization. He has passed 60 months in prison, where he has been mistreated and confined in solitary confinement.

“Athletics is intended to encourage faith, unity, and bravery,” the supporters expressed. “The capital punishment of a titleholder for his political views is a blatant attack on these values and a admonition to every athlete who dares to voice opinions.

Record of Executing Athletes

The appeal noted that the boxer's circumstances was not unique and emphasized the nation's history of sentencing to death sports champions for their beliefs, such as a national team leader, skipper of the national football team, and Fourouzan Abdi, captain of the women's volleyball squad. In the year 2020, a wrestling champion, a 27-year Iranian sports titleholder, was put to death.

Other endorsers to the letter include a yachting pioneer, who led the first female-only team in a round-the-world competition and was the first woman to earn a prestigious yachting trophy; the former leader of the soccer side an athlete; and a footballer, who was in the Iranian squad for the global tournament.

Detention and Unfair Trial

The boxer was arrested in early 2020. The accusations against him comprised “promoting decay on Earth through incendiarism and damage of public property”. His verdict has been annulled twice but on the fourth of October it was upheld on the third attempt. His legal proceedings was denounced as “grossly unfair” by human rights activists and groups.

Appeal to United Nations

The call to halt the athlete's execution comes after a previous statement to the United Nations official for human rights, backed by more than 100 advocates and organizations, demanding action to avert the sports figure's death.

Death Penalty Surge

Based on findings, there is an “capital punishment escalation in the country, which has reached shocking dimensions”. In 2023, authorities sentenced at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a 48% surge on the previous year. In the prior period, data showed nine hundred seventy-two executions, representing the maximum count since two thousand fifteen. More than eight hundred people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and dissidents are targets, notably in the wake of the 2022's uprising. Experts say the government have utilized the capital punishment to suppress opposition, instil fear among the public and reinforce their grip on power.