🔗 Share this article Olympians Call on Iranian Authorities to Halt Death Sentence of Champion Boxer Over 20 Olympic medal winners, trainers and additional global sports figures have signed a letter demanding a stop to the death penalty of a boxing titleholder and coach, who is sentenced to die in Iran. Escalating Global Anger Amid growing international outrage over the country's escalating use of executions as a means of oppression, the strongly worded statement censures the government's ruling to maintain the execution order of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani. The boxer, thirty, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was arrested for taking part in countrywide demonstrations in two thousand nineteen and indicted of aiding an opposition group. He has spent five years in detention, where he has been abused and held in solitary confinement. “Competition is designed to promote optimism, solidarity, and bravery,” the endorsers expressed. “The capital punishment of a winner for his opinions is a clear violation on these principles and a caution to any competitor who ventures to express dissent. Record of Executing Sports Figures The letter said that the boxer's circumstances was not unique and underscored Iran’s past of sentencing to death athletes for their convictions, such as a football captain, leader of the soccer squad, and Fourouzan Abdi, skipper of the national women’s volleyball team. In 2020, an athlete, a young national sports titleholder, was put to death. Other signatories to the letter consist of a sailing champion, who led the pioneering women's squad in a round-the-world competition and was the pioneering lady to receive a prestigious sailing award; the ex- leader of the Australian football team Craig Foster; and a sports figure, who was in the national team for the global tournament. Detention and Unjust Proceedings The boxer was taken into custody in March 2020. The charges against him entailed “causing deterioration on Earth through arson and destruction of government belongings”. His ruling has been reversed on two occasions but on 4 October it was confirmed on the latest review. His court case was condemned as “highly unjust” by advocates and groups. Appeal to United Nations The appeal to prevent the athlete's execution comes after a 2023 statement to the UN high commissioner for rights, endorsed by in excess of a hundred rights specialists and organizations, calling for action to prevent the athlete’s execution. Death Penalty Surge According to reports, there is an “execution crisis in the country, which has attained shocking levels”. In two thousand twenty-three, officials sentenced at least 853 people – a nearly half surge on the previous year. Last year, data showed nearly a thousand capital punishments, marking the highest number since two thousand fifteen. More than eight hundred people have been executed so far in 2025. Political prisoners and protesters are targets, especially in the wake of the 2022's protests. Experts say the regime have employed the capital punishment to suppress opposition, instil anxiety among the citizenry and reinforce their hold on power.