Iran: Letter to IOC re Iranian athletes facing political execution

Urgent IOC action required to protect Iranian athletes facing political execution

The Sport & Rights Alliance has written to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) regarding boxer and coach Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani who is at risk of imminent execution amid an ongoing horrifying escalation of executions in Iran. Read the full letter below.

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Dear President Coventry,

We are the Sport & Rights Alliance (SRA), a global coalition of leading civil society organizations committed to promoting the rights and well-being of those most affected by sport and to bring about a world where sport is an authentic force for good. We write urgently regarding boxer and coach Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani who is at risk of imminent execution amid an ongoing horrifying escalation of executions in Iran.

The imminent threat to the life of this athlete is part of a broader pattern of repression in Iran that has included the arrest of athletes who have exercised their human rights, including by protesting.

Indeed, in March 2023, the IOC Executive Board “expressed serious concerns” about the situation of Iranian athletes and publicly “urged the NOC to take appropriate action with the highest authorities to protect the athletes and members of the Olympic community.” The IOC further committed to “continue to monitor the situation and to request immediate intervention from the NOC whenever there is any specific issue affecting the athletes and members of the Olympic community in the country.”

Further, in 2020, the former IOC President Thomas Bach also made direct appeals to both the President and Supreme Leader of Iran to try and spare the life of wrestler Navid Akfari, who had also been sentenced to death in connection to protests against the authorities.

Amid a well-documented execution spree in Iran, whereby Iranian authorities have arbitrarily executed hundreds of people in 2025, urgent action is needed to end this assault to the right to life.

Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani

On 4 October 2025, Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani’s lawyer, Babak Paknia, publicly posted that Branch 9 of Iran’s Supreme Court had upheld his conviction and death sentence. Prior to this, on 20 September 2024, following a grossly unfair trial, a Revolutionary Court in Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan province, convicted Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani of “corruption on earth” and sentenced him to death for a third time, according to information posted by Babak Paknia, in relation to the nationwide protests in Iran that took place in November 2019. As an athlete and coach, Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani is part of a community the IOC is obligated to protect under its human rights and safe sport commitments.

Amnesty International has repeatedly held that the charge of “corruption on earth” does not meet the principles of legality and clarity as required by international law and standards. Additionally, Amnesty International has also previously documented how trials held in Revolutionary Courts are systematically unfair and result in arbitrary executions. The organization has documented hundreds of cases over decades where criminal proceedings held before Revolutionary Courts, leading to sentences of imprisonment and death, gravely violated the right to a fair trial.

IOC’s Responsibility

In addition to its responsibility to respect human rights under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the IOC is bound by the Fundamental Principles of Olympism 1, 2, 4, and 6, protecting human dignity, non-discrimination and human rights; the IOC Human Rights Strategic Framework, obligating protection of individuals linked to Olympic stakeholders from serious abuses; the IOC Safe Sport Action Plan, requiring the IOC to address serious violence, including torture and threats to life, against athletes.

We also note and welcome the recent discussions at the 14th Olympic Summit, in particular reaffirming that “athletes have a fundamental right to access sport across the world, and to compete free from political interference or pressure from governmental organizations”.

The arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment, unfair trial against Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani violates these commitments and requires urgent action by the IOC. The risk of imminent execution of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, whose death sentence has been upheld by the Supreme Court, an athlete affiliated with an IOC-recognized NOC, falls directly within the IOC’s responsibility to act where athletes face politically motivated harm. The IOC previous actions, including intervention in the case of Navid Afkari and raising concerns with the Iranian NOC and committing to monitor and intervene in future, reinforces this responsibility.

Our Requests

Given the imminent risk of execution, we ask you to urgently appeal to the Iranian authorities to halt all executions and quash death sentences, beginning with Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, and release all those arbitrarily detained solely for peacefully exercising their human rights.

We further call on you to engage directly with the Iranian NOC to protect all athletes at risk, beginning most urgently with Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.

The death penalty violates the right to life affirmed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and constitutes the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

Timely IOC intervention could save lives and show that the Olympic Movement stands with athletes at grave risk. As this is an urgent matter, we ask for immediate action and for a response as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,