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In excess of two dozen Olympic champions, coaches and other international athletes have endorsed a statement urging a stop to the execution of a boxing titleholder and coach, who is on death row in the country.

Growing Global Anger

During increasing global condemnation over Iran’s increasing application of the death penalty as a tool of oppression, the strongly worded appeal denounces the authorities's decision to confirm the death sentence of the athlete.

Vafaei Sani, three decades old, from Mashhad in the northeastern region, was detained for taking part in nationwide protests in the year 2019 and accused of aiding an resistance movement. He has endured 60 months in detention, where he has been mistreated and kept in isolation.

“Competition is meant to encourage optimism, unity, and bravery,” the signatories stated. “The capital punishment of a titleholder for his opinions is a blatant attack on these ideals and a caution to every athlete who dares to speak out.

Pattern of Putting to Death Sports Figures

The statement said that the athlete's circumstances was part of a pattern and underscored Iran’s history of sentencing to death sports champions for their convictions, such as a football captain, skipper of the football side, and a women's sports leader, captain of the female volleyball side. In the year 2020, an athlete, a young national sports titleholder, faced the death penalty.

Other endorsers to the letter include a sailing champion, who led the first all-female crew in a global yacht race and was the pioneering lady to earn a renowned sailing award; the former captain of the soccer side Craig Foster; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the Iranian squad for the global tournament.

Detention and Unjust Proceedings

The athlete was taken into custody in March 2020. The charges against him comprised “promoting decay on Earth through incendiarism and damage of state assets”. His verdict has been reversed twice but on the fourth of October it was upheld on the third attempt. His court case was denounced as “deeply biased” by human rights activists and groups.

Call to International Body

The urging to stop Vafaei Sani’s execution follows a earlier statement to the UN high commissioner for human rights, signed by over a hundred human rights experts and entities, urging action to stop the sports figure's death.

Execution Crisis

Based on reports, there is an “capital punishment escalation in Iran, which has achieved alarming dimensions”. In the year 2023, officials executed at least eight hundred fifty-three people – a forty-eight percent rise on 2022. In the prior period, statistics showed nearly a thousand capital punishments, representing the maximum count since 2015. In excess of eight hundred people have been executed so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and dissidents are victims, notably in the wake of the 2022's demonstrations. Analysts say the Iranian authorities have utilized the death penalty to suppress dissent, create apprehension among the citizenry and tighten their control on rule.