Olympians unite to speak out against Iran for the execution of the country's star athletes

A conjugation of athletes, including respective Olympians, person signed a missive advocating against Iran for its past and plans to execute prima athletes, arsenic the planned execution of Iranian boxing champion Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani looms.

Sani is simply a boxing champion, manager and governmental captive who is presently facing an imminent hazard of execution successful Iran by the Ayatollah.

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He was arrested by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) successful March 2020 pursuing his information successful the November 2019 nationwide protests, which were initially sparked by a abrupt hike successful state prices. The Iranian judiciary charged him with "corruption connected earth," which is simply a superior discourtesy successful the country.

The Olympians, headlined by women's tennis fable Martina Navratilova and British swimming golden medalist Sharron Davies, telephone connected satellite governing powers and sports bodies to intervene to forestall the execution.

"Currently, Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, a 31-year-old boxing champion and coach, remains connected decease row," the missive states.

"We telephone connected the United Nations, planetary sports federations, and governments to enactment instantly to prevention the lives of Iranian dissidents, including athletes. The satellite indispensable not basal by portion Iran silences its champions. We basal with the victims. We basal for justice."

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The missive besides pointed to past incidents of Iranian execution of prima athletes successful the country, including 19-year-old champion wrestler Saleh Mohammadi, whose execution sparked a planetary uproar successful March.

"Since mid-March, Iran has witnessed a horrific spree of executions of governmental dissidents, marking 1 of the astir terrible crackdowns successful the past 3 decades. Dozens of radical person been executed pursuing unfair trials and coerced confessions. The theocratic regime, fearing different uprising, has exploited the screen of warfare to suppress increasing dissent. Several victims of these executions were protesters arrested during the January 2026 uprising. Among them were Saleh Mohammadi, a 19-year-old nationalist wrestling champion, and Sasan Azadvar Joonaghan, a 21-year-old karate champion," the missive states.

"Tragically, Iran has a grim past of executing athletes for their beliefs, including Habib Khabiri, the skipper of Iran’s nationalist shot team, who was executed for his affiliation with the PMOI, and Forouzan Abdi, skipper of Iran’s nationalist women’s volleyball team, who was executed alongside 30,000 governmental prisoners during the 1988 massacre. In 2020, Iranian wrestling champion Navid Afkari was executed aft participating successful peaceful protests successful 2018."

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Saleh Mohammadi, an Iranian wrestling champion reportedly executed implicit protestation information earlier this year, is shown adjacent to a Tehran billboard featuring Supreme Leaders Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Ali Khamenei, and Mojtaba Khamenei connected March 10, 2026. (The Foreign Desk/AFP via Getty Images)

The missive includes a full of 24 jock signees, including 9 Olympians and 5 Iranians.

• Martina Navratilova — Former World No. 1 Women’s Tennis Player (Czech Republic/United States)
• Soolmaz Abooali — 16-time US Champion and three-time World Champion successful Traditional Karate (United States)
• Sharron Davies MBE — Swimmer, Olympic Medalist (United Kingdom)
• Craig Foster AM — Former Captain of the National Football Team of Australia (Australia)
• Alberto Frati — Boxer; Former UBO International Super Featherweight Champion (Italy)
• Nikolai Terteryan — Boxer; European Games Gold Medalist (Denmark)
• Moslem Eskandar Filabi — Olympian; Gold Medalist successful Greco-Roman Wrestling astatine the Asian Games (Iran)
• Tracy Edwards MBE — 1990 Yachtsman of the Year; Skipper of the First All-Female Crew successful the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race (United Kingdom)
• Bahram Mavaddat — Former Goalkeeper of the National Football Team of Iran (Iran)
• Carilyn Johnson — Ultrarunner; four-time Member of Team USA; two-time Gold and one-time Silver Medalist Team Member astatine the IAU 24-Hour World Championship (United States)
• Mohammad Ghorbani — Olympian; Gold Medalist successful Freestyle Wrestling astatine the World Championships and Asian Games (Iran)
• Inga Thompson — Cyclist; Olympian; 10-time US National Champion; three-time World Medalist (United States)
• Monica Aksamit — Saber Fencer; Olympic Bronze Medalist; Pan American Games Gold Medalist (United States)
• Manouchehr Arastoupour — Gold Medalist astatine the World Rowing Masters Regatta (Iran)
• Chris Cook — Swimmer; Olympian; two-time Commonwealth Games Gold Medalist (United Kingdom)
• Eli Bremer — Olympian, Modern Pentathlon (United States)
• Ali Ziaei — Former National Sanshou Champion and Member of Canadian National Wushu Team (Canada)
• Vladyslav Heraskevych — Olympian, Skeleton Racer (Ukraine)
• Shea McAleese — Olympian; Former Member of the New Zealand National Hockey Team; Commonwealth Games Bronze Medalist (New Zealand)
• Asghar Adibi — Former Member of the National Football Team of Iran (Iran)
• Elham Asem — Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) Fighter and Referee; BJJ World Amateur Champion; Gold Medalist astatine the AJP Lisbon and Milan International Championships (Norway)
• Golpar Parvardeh — Gymnast; European Championships successful TeamGym Silver Medalist (Sweden)
• Amin Karimi — Kickboxer; 16 B-Class Fights, 14 Wins (Germany)
• James Field — Former Captain of the US International Karate Team; Two-time National Grand Champion; Two-time Pan American Champion (United States)