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More than twenty Olympic champions, trainers and additional global sports figures have endorsed a statement urging a stop to the execution of a champion boxer and instructor, who is on death row in the nation.

Growing International Outrage

During increasing global condemnation over the country's expanding employment of capital punishment as a tool of repression, the strongly worded statement condemns the Iranian regime's ruling to maintain the death sentence of the athlete.

Vafaei Sani, thirty, from Mashhad in north-east Iran, was taken into custody for being involved in nationwide protests in 2019 and indicted of aiding an opposition group. He has endured 60 months in prison, where he has been tortured and kept in isolation.

“Sport is meant to encourage faith, unity, and fortitude,” the endorsers stated. “The execution of a winner for his political views is a direct assault on these values and a warning to any competitor who attempts to express dissent.

Record of Killing Competitors

The letter said that the boxer's case was part of a pattern and emphasized Iran’s past of sentencing to death competitors for their beliefs, for example a football captain, skipper of the soccer squad, and a women's sports leader, leader of the female volleyball side. In 2020, an athlete, a young national competitor, faced the death penalty.

Other supporters to the statement include Tracy Edwards, who captained the first female-only team in a round-the-world competition and was the first woman to receive a prestigious nautical honor; the ex- leader of the national squad a sports advocate; and a footballer, who was in the national team for the global tournament.

Detention and Flawed Legal Process

The boxer was arrested in the spring of 2020. The charges against him included “spreading corruption on Earth through arson and destruction of public property”. His ruling has been overturned on two occasions but on the fourth of October it was upheld on the third occasion. His court case was condemned as “grossly unfair” by advocates and organizations.

Urging to United Nations

The urging to stop the athlete's capital punishment comes after a earlier appeal to the global human rights chief for freedoms, backed by in excess of 100 advocates and organizations, calling for measures to avert the athlete’s death.

Death Penalty Surge

According to reports, there is an “death penalty surge in the country, which has achieved alarming proportions”. In 2023, officials executed at least over 850 people – a nearly half rise on 2022. Last year, data showed nearly a thousand capital punishments, constituting the highest number since two thousand fifteen. Over eight hundred people have been sentenced so far in 2025.

Political prisoners and protesters are victims, particularly in the aftermath of the 2022's protests. Experts say the Iranian authorities have employed the executions to quell dissent, create fear among the population and reinforce their grip on rule.