Iranian boxing champion at imminent risk of execution as retrial request rejected | Global development
A boxing champion jailed in Iran is thought to be at risk of execution after his request for a retrial was rejected by the country’s top court.
Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, 30, from Mashhad in northeastern Iran, was arrested in 2020 for participating in nationwide democracy protests in 2019 and accused of supporting the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (MEK), an opposition group. He spent five years in prison, where he was tortured and placed in solitary confinement.
The request for a retrial was denied on December 15. On the same day, his mother unexpectedly visited him; campaigners believe the move could signal his imminent execution. In a phone call from prison, he was told that his case had been forwarded to the ministry for execution of sentences in Mashhad.
“His life is in great danger, the execution of the death penalty could occur at any time,” said Shahin Gobadi, a member of the foreign affairs committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition of opposition movements. “It is necessary to keep in mind that the regime has used intense torture in the last six years and has tried hard to force him to give up PMOI.”
Vafaei Sani was found guilty of “World corruption” and sentenced to death for a third time in September 2024 after a “grossly unfair trial”, according to Amnesty International. Supreme Court He approved the death penalty on October 4.
Nassim Papayianni, Amnesty International’s senior advocate on Iran, called on Iranian authorities to immediately halt plans to carry out Vafaei Sani’s action. demands his execution and annuls the conviction and death penalty.
He said: “Amnesty International has repeatedly stated that this charge does not comply with the principles of legality and openness required by international law and standards. Our investigation has consistently shown that revolutionary tribunals lack independence and impose harsh sentences following grossly unfair trials. People tried in such tribunals, including Vafaei Sani, are systematically denied the right to a fair trial.”
In November, more than 20 Olympic medalists, coaches and other international athletes, including tennis player Martina Navratilova and swimmer Sharron Davies, signed a letter calling for a stay on Vafaei Sani’s execution.
Inside a later statementMauricio Sulaimán Saldívar, President of the World Boxing Council (WBC), said: “Boxing is a discipline that inspires courage, respect and the pursuit of personal improvement, not a cause for political punishment. The execution of a boxer for expressing the ideas of a champion is a direct attack on the fundamental values of the sport and human dignity.”
In 2023, more than 100 human rights experts and organizations wrote a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, calling for action to prevent the athlete’s execution.
Iran has a history of executions athletes for their beliefsincluding Habib Khabiri, captain of the national football team in 1984 and Fourouzan AbdiShe was the captain of the national women’s volleyball team in 1988. In 2020 Navid AfkariHe is a 27-year-old Iranian wrestling champion. was also executed.
The increase in executions in Iran is causing international outrage. At least 1000 people were executed in the country in the first nine months 2025 – 30-year high. That number is now thought to exceed 1,500, according to Iran Human Rights. Amnesty International made the following statement:Execution crisis in Iranhas reached terrifying proportions.”
Especially after the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom uprising, political prisoners and dissidents are being targeted. Experts say Iranian authorities are increasing executions use the death penalty to scare and silence the people and tighten their grip on power.
