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Over 20 Olympic champions, mentors and additional global sports figures have endorsed a statement calling for a end to the execution of a champion boxer and coach, who is facing execution in the country.

Growing Worldwide Condemnation

Amidst growing international outrage over the nation's escalating use of executions as a instrument of suppression, the forcefully phrased appeal censures the Iranian regime's verdict to maintain the capital punishment of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

Vafaei Sani, 30, from Mashhad in the northern province, was detained for taking part in national uprisings in 2019 and indicted of backing an resistance movement. He has passed five years in prison, where he has been abused and confined in isolation.

“Athletics is designed to promote hope, unity, and courage,” the endorsers expressed. “The capital punishment of a champion for his opinions is a clear violation on these values and a admonition to any competitor who dares to speak out.

Pattern of Putting to Death Athletes

The appeal said that Vafaei Sani’s circumstances was part of a pattern and highlighted the country's history of executing sports champions for their views, such as Habib Khabiri, skipper of the national football team, and Fourouzan Abdi, captain of the national women’s volleyball team. In the year 2020, an athlete, a 27-year-old national sports titleholder, was also executed.

Further supporters to the statement include a yachting pioneer, who skippered the inaugural female-only team in a international sailing event and was the pioneering lady to receive a prestigious sailing award; the former captain of the Australian football team a sports advocate; and a sports figure, who was in the Iranian squad for the 1978 World Cup.

Detention and Flawed Legal Process

The athlete was detained in March 2020. The accusations against him entailed “spreading corruption on Earth through arson and destruction of public property”. His sentence has been annulled twice but on 4 October it was confirmed on the latest review. His trial was denounced as “grossly unfair” by human rights activists and groups.

Appeal to United Nations

The urging to prevent the boxer's capital punishment comes after a previous letter to the United Nations official for human rights, signed by over 100 rights specialists and groups, urging intervention to avert the sports figure's capital punishment.

Capital Punishment Escalation

Based on data, there is an “execution crisis in the country, which has reached horrific dimensions”. In the year 2023, authorities executed at least 853 people – a nearly half increase on the previous year. The year before, statistics showed nearly a thousand capital punishments, representing the peak figure since 2015. More than 800 people have been put to death so far in 2025.

Dissidents and dissidents are targets, especially in the aftermath of the the year 2022 uprising. Specialists say the regime have employed the death penalty to quell protest, instil anxiety among the public and reinforce their control on power.