Human rights activists beg UN to intervene over Iranian boxer facing execution

GENEVA, Switzerland – Dozens of rights experts and NGOs have asked the UN rights chief to intervene urgently to prevent the execution of an Iranian boxing champion sentenced to death over his role in 2019 protests.

The appeal came after Mohammad Javad Vafaei-Sani on Wednesday saw his execution verdict confirmed to him before he was taken to a secluded section of the Vakilabad prison in the city of Mashhad where he is being held, according to the letter sent to Volker Turk overnight.

“We request your urgent public intervention to save the life of Iranian political prisoner (Mohammad Javad Vafaei-Sani),” said the letter, which was signed by 85 international rights advocates and groups.

A former head of the International Criminal Court, 19 current and former UN officials, former government ministers and seven Nobel laureates were among the signatories to the letter, seen by AFP.

The 27-year-old local Mashhad boxing champion was arrested in early 2020 for taking part in anti-government protests the previous November, sparked by a sudden fuel price rise.

He was sentenced to death in January 2022 after being convicted of arson and destruction of government buildings, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) NGO said at the time.

Another Iranian protester, Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani (26) is in imminent danger of execution by Iran’s medieval regime. Instead of condemning this heinous act after he is gone, raise your voice and stop his execution NOW!#StopExecutionInIran#محمدجواد_وفایی_ثانی pic.twitter.com/iE5EE2MJQc

— Ehsan Qaraee (@86Ehsan) July 20, 2023

The exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political wing of the People’s Mujahedin (MEK) opposition group – both outlawed in Iran – has said the charges against him included supporting the MEK.

The letter to Turk maintained that Vafaei-Sani had been tortured for several months prior to his death sentence for “corruption on Earth.”

Iran executes more people annually than any nation other than China, according to rights groups including London-based Amnesty International.

The pace of the executions has been relatively rapid in 2023, with IHR recently reporting nearly 370 executions since the start of the year.

Iran has drawn particular criticism for the growing number of executions in connection with the massive demonstrations following the death in custody last September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress rule for women based on Islamic Sharia law.

A UN fact-finding mission said earlier this month that Iran had executed seven men in connection with the Amini protests, calling on Tehran to stop the “chilling” practice.

“These political executions are a callous attempt by the authorities to frighten and silence an increasingly restive population no longer willing to accept their corrupt and oppressive rule,” the letter to Turk said. “We ask that you make an urgent public call for the Iranian authorities to halt [Vafaei-Sani’s] imminent execution sentence.”

The UN rights office confirmed that it had received the letter.

“We have received information on this case and are following up on it and gathering additional information,” a spokesman told AFP, without providing further details.