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Over 20 Olympic medal winners, coaches and additional international athletes have signed a letter demanding a halt to the execution of a champion boxer and coach, who is on death row in Iran.

Increasing Global Anger

During growing international outrage over the country's expanding employment of executions as a tool of repression, the strongly worded appeal censures the Iranian regime's ruling to confirm the capital punishment of the boxing champion.

The boxer, 30, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was taken into custody for taking part in national uprisings in 2019 and indicted of supporting an opposition group. He has passed half a decade in detention, where he has been abused and held in solitary confinement.

“Sport is designed to encourage hope, togetherness, and bravery,” the signatories expressed. “The death penalty of a titleholder for his opinions is a clear violation on these ideals and a warning to every athlete who dares to express dissent.

Record of Killing Sports Figures

The statement said that the athlete's circumstances was not an isolated one and emphasized the country's record of sentencing to death athletes for their convictions, for example a football captain, leader of the soccer squad, and a volleyball captain, skipper of the national women’s volleyball team. In 2020, an athlete, a young Iranian wrestling champion, was put to death.

Further supporters to the appeal include a yachting pioneer, who skippered the pioneering women's squad in a round-the-world competition and was the initial female to be awarded a esteemed sailing award; the previous skipper of the national squad a sports advocate; and a footballer, who was in the national team for the international competition.

Detention and Unjust Proceedings

Vafaei Sani was arrested in March 2020. The accusations against him included “causing deterioration on Earth through fire-setting and ruin of state assets”. His verdict has been annulled twice but on October 4 it was upheld on the third occasion. His court case was criticized as “highly unjust” by advocates and organizations.

Call to UN

The call to prevent Vafaei Sani’s death sentence is subsequent to a 2023 letter to the United Nations official for freedoms, signed by in excess of one hundred rights specialists and entities, urging measures to prevent the athlete’s death.

Execution Crisis

According to findings, there is an “death penalty surge in Iran, which has reached horrific dimensions”. In two thousand twenty-three, the government sentenced at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a 48% rise on the previous year. In the prior period, data showed 972 executions, representing the peak figure since 2015. Over eight hundred people have been put to death so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and dissidents are targets, particularly in the wake of the 2022 uprising. Analysts say the Iranian authorities have utilized the capital punishment to suppress dissent, instil apprehension among the public and strengthen their grip on power.