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More than two dozen Olympic medal winners, mentors and other international athletes have put their names to a letter demanding a stop to the execution of a boxing champion and instructor, who is sentenced to die in the country.

Growing Global Anger

Amidst growing international outrage over Iran’s escalating use of capital punishment as a means of oppression, the powerfully expressed statement denounces the Iranian regime's decision to uphold the death sentence of the athlete.

Vafaei Sani, 30, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was detained for taking part in national uprisings in the year 2019 and indicted of aiding an dissident organization. He has spent half a decade in incarceration, where he has been mistreated and kept in isolation.

“Competition is meant to inspire hope, unity, and bravery,” the endorsers stated. “The execution of a champion for his political views is a blatant attack on these principles and a caution to every athlete who dares to express dissent.

History of Putting to Death Athletes

The appeal said that Vafaei Sani’s case was part of a pattern and emphasized the nation's history of executing competitors for their beliefs, for example a national team leader, captain of the soccer squad, and Fourouzan Abdi, skipper of the women's volleyball squad. In 2020, a wrestling champion, a 27-year Iranian sports titleholder, faced the death penalty.

Additional endorsers to the appeal comprise Tracy Edwards, who captained the first all-female crew in a global yacht race and was the pioneering lady to receive a renowned sailing award; the former skipper of the Australian football team an athlete; and a sports figure, who was in the country's selection for the global tournament.

Apprehension and Unfair Trial

The boxer was arrested in early 2020. The allegations against him entailed “causing deterioration on Earth through fire-setting and ruin of public property”. His sentence has been reversed on two occasions but on 4 October it was confirmed on the latest review. His court case was criticized as “grossly unfair” by human rights activists and bodies.

Call to International Body

The urging to prevent the boxer's execution is subsequent to a previous letter to the UN high commissioner for rights, endorsed by more than one hundred advocates and entities, calling for intervention to prevent the competitor's execution.

Execution Crisis

Based on findings, there is an “capital punishment escalation in the nation, which has attained horrific dimensions”. In the year 2023, the government sentenced at least 853 people – a forty-eight percent rise on the previous year. The year before, records showed nine hundred seventy-two deaths, representing the highest number since the year 2015. In excess of eight hundred people have been put to death so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and dissidents are targets, notably in the aftermath of the the year 2022 protests. Specialists say the Iranian authorities have employed the capital punishment to suppress opposition, instil fear among the citizenry and tighten their grip on authority.