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In excess of 20 Olympic medal winners, mentors and further international athletes have signed a statement urging a end to the death penalty of a boxing champion and trainer, who is on death row in the country.

Growing International Outrage

Amidst rising global condemnation over the country's increasing application of capital punishment as a means of repression, the forcefully phrased statement condemns the authorities's verdict to confirm the execution order of the boxing champion.

The athlete, 30, from Mashhad in the northern province, was taken into custody for taking part in countrywide demonstrations in the year 2019 and charged of backing an dissident organization. He has passed 60 months in detention, where he has been tortured and held in seclusion.

“Sport is meant to inspire hope, togetherness, and courage,” the supporters stated. “The capital punishment of a titleholder for his opinions is a blatant attack on these ideals and a caution to all sportspeople who ventures to express dissent.

Pattern of Putting to Death Athletes

The letter noted that the boxer's circumstances was part of a pattern and highlighted the nation's history of executing sports champions for their beliefs, such as a football captain, captain of the national football team, and Fourouzan Abdi, captain of the female volleyball side. In two thousand twenty, Navid Afkari, a 27-year national sports titleholder, was put to death.

Additional supporters to the statement comprise Tracy Edwards, who captained the first all-female crew in a global yacht race and was the first woman to receive a renowned nautical honor; the previous skipper of the soccer side Craig Foster; and a footballer, who was in the Iranian squad for the global tournament.

Apprehension and Unfair Trial

Vafaei Sani was detained in March 2020. The charges against him included “promoting decay on Earth through incendiarism and damage of government belongings”. His sentence has been annulled twice but on 4 October it was upheld on the third occasion. His court case was denounced as “grossly unfair” by rights defenders and bodies.

Call to UN

The urging to stop the athlete's death sentence is subsequent to a earlier letter to the UN high commissioner for freedoms, endorsed by more than one hundred human rights experts and organizations, calling for intervention to avert the athlete’s execution.

Death Penalty Surge

Based on reports, there is an “capital punishment escalation in the country, which has reached horrific levels”. In 2023, authorities put to death at least over 850 people – a forty-eight percent increase on 2022. In the prior period, records showed nearly a thousand deaths, constituting the peak figure since the year 2015. More than 800 people have been executed so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and opponents are targets, especially in the aftermath of the the year 2022 protests. Specialists say the government have utilized the death penalty to suppress opposition, generate fear among the citizenry and reinforce their grip on authority.