🔗 Share this article

In excess of twenty Olympic medallists, coaches and additional world-class competitors have signed a letter urging a halt to the capital punishment of a champion boxer and coach, who is on death row in the nation.

Escalating International Outrage

Amidst rising global condemnation over Iran’s expanding employment of the death penalty as a tool of oppression, the strongly worded appeal condemns the authorities's verdict to maintain the execution order of the boxing champion.

Vafaei Sani, 30, from the city in north-east Iran, was detained for taking part in national uprisings in 2019 and accused of backing an dissident organization. He has endured half a decade in prison, where he has been tortured and held in solitary confinement.

“Competition is intended to inspire optimism, solidarity, and bravery,” the endorsers expressed. “The capital punishment of a winner for his political views is a clear violation on these values and a warning to any competitor who ventures to voice opinions.

Pattern of Killing Competitors

The appeal pointed out that Vafaei Sani’s circumstances was not an isolated one and underscored Iran’s record of executing sports champions for their views, for example Habib Khabiri, captain of the football side, and Fourouzan Abdi, leader of the female volleyball side. In 2020, a wrestling champion, a 27-year Iranian competitor, was put to death.

Other endorsers to the statement comprise a sailing champion, who captained the pioneering women's squad in a round-the-world competition and was the first woman to be awarded a prestigious sailing award; the former skipper of the soccer side Craig Foster; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the Iranian squad for the international competition.

Detention and Unfair Trial

The boxer was taken into custody in the spring of 2020. The charges against him comprised “causing deterioration on Earth through incendiarism and destruction of public property”. His verdict has been reversed on two occasions but on the fourth of October it was confirmed on the third attempt. His legal proceedings was criticized as “grossly unfair” by human rights activists and bodies.

Urging to United Nations

The call to halt the athlete's capital punishment comes after a previous letter to the United Nations official for freedoms, backed by over a hundred advocates and groups, urging measures to avert the sports figure's capital punishment.

Capital Punishment Escalation

According to findings, there is an “death penalty surge in the country, which has attained horrific proportions”. In two thousand twenty-three, officials put to death at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a nearly half surge on the previous year. The year before, statistics showed nearly a thousand executions, constituting the maximum count since 2015. Over hundreds of people have been put to death so far in 2025.

Dissidents and opponents are victims, notably in the aftermath of the the year 2022 uprising. Specialists say the Iranian authorities have used the executions to suppress dissent, instil fear among the population and strengthen their grip on rule.