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More than 20 Olympic medal winners, mentors and other international athletes have signed a letter calling for a halt to the capital punishment of a champion boxer and trainer, who is facing execution in the nation.

Growing Worldwide Condemnation

Amid rising worldwide anger over the nation's escalating use of capital punishment as a tool of oppression, the forcefully phrased letter condemns the authorities's decision to uphold the capital punishment of the athlete.

The boxer, 30, from Mashhad in the northern province, was taken into custody for participating in national uprisings in the year 2019 and charged of backing an resistance movement. He has endured 60 months in incarceration, where he has been mistreated and kept in isolation.

“Competition is meant to encourage faith, unity, and fortitude,” the supporters expressed. “The execution of a titleholder for his political views is a blatant attack on these values and a admonition to any competitor who dares to express dissent.

History of Killing Competitors

The appeal pointed out that the athlete's case was not unique and underscored Iran’s record of executing sports champions for their beliefs, for example a national team leader, skipper of the football side, and Fourouzan Abdi, leader of the women's volleyball squad. In the year 2020, Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old Iranian competitor, was also executed.

Other signatories to the letter comprise a sailing champion, who led the first female-only team in a international sailing event and was the first woman to receive a prestigious nautical honor; the ex- captain of the soccer side an athlete; and a footballer, who was in the country's selection for the 1978 World Cup.

Detention and Unfair Trial

Vafaei Sani was detained in the spring of 2020. The charges against him included “spreading corruption on Earth through fire-setting and ruin of public property”. His sentence has been overturned twice but on the fourth of October it was maintained on the third occasion. His trial was criticized as “deeply biased” by human rights activists and bodies.

Appeal to United Nations

The call to stop Vafaei Sani’s capital punishment follows a earlier appeal to the UN high commissioner for rights, endorsed by in excess of one hundred rights specialists and entities, demanding action to prevent the sports figure's death.

Execution Crisis

According to reports, there is an “capital punishment escalation in Iran, which has achieved horrific proportions”. In the year 2023, authorities put to death at least 853 people – a forty-eight percent surge on 2022. Last year, records showed nearly a thousand deaths, representing the maximum count since two thousand fifteen. More than hundreds of people have been executed so far in 2025.

Activists and dissidents are targets, particularly in the wake of the 2022's uprising. Experts say the government have employed the executions to stifle protest, generate anxiety among the citizenry and tighten their hold on authority.