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Over two dozen Olympic champions, trainers and additional international athletes have signed a appeal demanding a halt to the death penalty of a champion boxer and coach, who is facing execution in Iran.

Growing Global Anger

Amidst growing international outrage over the nation's expanding employment of capital punishment as a means of repression, the forcefully phrased appeal denounces the authorities's verdict to confirm the death sentence of the athlete.

The boxer, thirty, from the city in the northeastern region, was arrested for taking part in national uprisings in 2019 and charged of backing an opposition group. He has spent five years in incarceration, where he has been abused and confined in seclusion.

“Competition is designed to inspire optimism, solidarity, and courage,” the signatories wrote. “The capital punishment of a titleholder for his political views is a direct assault on these values and a admonition to every athlete who attempts to express dissent.

Pattern of Executing Sports Figures

The appeal said that Vafaei Sani’s case was not an isolated one and underscored the nation's past of sentencing to death athletes for their beliefs, for example Habib Khabiri, skipper of the national football team, and Fourouzan Abdi, leader of the women's volleyball squad. In 2020, Navid Afkari, a young Iranian wrestling champion, was also executed.

Further signatories to the letter comprise a yachting pioneer, who skippered the first female-only team in a global yacht race and was the first woman to be awarded a esteemed sailing award; the former captain of the soccer side an athlete; and Bahram Mavaddat, who was in the country's selection for the global tournament.

Detention and Flawed Legal Process

The boxer was taken into custody in March 2020. The charges against him included “promoting decay on Earth through fire-setting and ruin of public property”. His ruling has been overturned twice but on October 4 it was maintained on the third occasion. His court case was criticized as “grossly unfair” by human rights activists and bodies.

Call to International Body

The appeal to prevent the boxer's death sentence is subsequent to a 2023 appeal to the global human rights chief for freedoms, backed by more than 100 human rights experts and organizations, calling for action to prevent the competitor's capital punishment.

Capital Punishment Escalation

According to data, there is an “capital punishment escalation in the country, which has reached alarming levels”. In the year 2023, the government sentenced at least over 850 people – a nearly half surge on 2022. In the prior period, data showed 972 capital punishments, marking the peak figure since the year 2015. In excess of hundreds of people have been executed so far in 2025.

Dissidents and dissidents are focus, notably in the aftermath of the 2022's demonstrations. Experts say the regime have used the capital punishment to stifle opposition, generate apprehension among the population and tighten their grip on power.