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Over two dozen Olympic champions, trainers and additional world-class competitors have put their names to a letter urging a stop to the death penalty of a boxing titleholder and trainer, who is on death row in Iran.

Growing Worldwide Condemnation

Amid increasing international outrage over Iran’s escalating use of the death penalty as a means of repression, the strongly worded appeal censures the authorities's decision to uphold the death sentence of the boxing champion.

The athlete, 30, from Mashhad in the northern province, was taken into custody for participating in countrywide demonstrations in the year 2019 and charged of backing an opposition group. He has endured five years in incarceration, where he has been abused and confined in seclusion.

“Sport is meant to promote faith, solidarity, and bravery,” the signatories wrote. “The execution of a champion for his beliefs is a direct assault on these principles and a admonition to every athlete who attempts to voice opinions.

Pattern of Killing Competitors

The letter said that Vafaei Sani’s case was not unique and emphasized Iran’s history of putting to death athletes for their beliefs, for example a national team leader, leader of the national football team, and Fourouzan Abdi, captain of the national women’s volleyball team. In 2020, an athlete, a young national competitor, faced the death penalty.

Further supporters to the letter consist of Tracy Edwards, who captained the first female-only team in a global yacht race and was the pioneering lady to earn a renowned yachting trophy; the former skipper of the national squad a sports advocate; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the country's selection for the international competition.

Apprehension and Flawed Legal Process

Vafaei Sani was taken into custody in the spring of 2020. The charges against him entailed “promoting decay on Earth through incendiarism and ruin of government belongings”. His verdict has been annulled on two occasions but on 4 October it was maintained on the third occasion. His court case was criticized as “highly unjust” by rights defenders and organizations.

Call to International Body

The appeal to halt Vafaei Sani’s capital punishment follows a previous letter to the United Nations official for freedoms, signed by more than 100 advocates and groups, demanding measures to avert the athlete’s death.

Execution Crisis

Based on reports, there is an “execution crisis in Iran, which has attained alarming proportions”. In 2023, authorities sentenced at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a 48% surge on 2022. The year before, data showed nearly a thousand executions, marking the highest number since two thousand fifteen. More than eight hundred people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Dissidents and protesters are targets, notably in the aftermath of the the year 2022 demonstrations. Specialists say the Iranian authorities have employed the executions to suppress protest, create fear among the citizenry and strengthen their hold on power.