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More than 20 Olympic medal winners, coaches and further world-class competitors have endorsed a letter urging a halt to the capital punishment of a champion boxer and coach, who is facing execution in the country.

Growing International Outrage

Amid growing worldwide anger over Iran’s increasing application of the death penalty as a tool of oppression, the forcefully phrased appeal condemns the government's verdict to confirm the capital punishment of the athlete.

Vafaei Sani, 30, from the city in north-east Iran, was arrested for being involved in countrywide demonstrations in two thousand nineteen and indicted of supporting an opposition group. He has spent 60 months in incarceration, where he has been tortured and held in solitary confinement.

“Competition is designed to encourage hope, unity, and fortitude,” the supporters wrote. “The death penalty of a titleholder for his beliefs is a blatant attack on these ideals and a admonition to all sportspeople who dares to voice opinions.

Record of Putting to Death Competitors

The letter noted that the boxer's case was part of a pattern and emphasized the nation's past of executing competitors for their convictions, including a national team leader, skipper of the national football team, and Fourouzan Abdi, captain of the national women’s volleyball team. In two thousand twenty, Navid Afkari, a 27-year national sports titleholder, was put to death.

Other supporters to the letter include a yachting pioneer, who captained the first female-only team in a global yacht race and was the first woman to earn a esteemed sailing award; the ex- leader of the Australian football team a sports advocate; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the Iranian squad for the global tournament.

Detention and Flawed Legal Process

Vafaei Sani was detained in the spring of 2020. The accusations against him included “spreading corruption on Earth through fire-setting and damage of public property”. His ruling has been reversed multiple times but on the fourth of October it was maintained on the third attempt. His trial was criticized as “highly unjust” by rights defenders and groups.

Call to United Nations

The appeal to halt the boxer's capital punishment comes after a 2023 statement to the United Nations official for freedoms, backed by more than one hundred human rights experts and organizations, urging intervention to stop the athlete’s death.

Death Penalty Surge

Based on findings, there is an “death penalty surge in the country, which has attained shocking levels”. In the year 2023, the government put to death at least over 850 people – a forty-eight percent rise on 2022. Last year, records showed 972 deaths, constituting the highest number since the year 2015. In excess of 800 people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and dissidents are victims, especially in the wake of the 2022 demonstrations. Specialists say the Iranian authorities have used the death penalty to stifle dissent, instil anxiety among the population and tighten their grip on authority.