Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv and a former world boxing champion, issued a letter calling for the halt of the execution of Mohammad Javad Vafaei-Sani, a thirty-year-old boxer and political prisoner held in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad. Vafaei-Sani was arrested after the nationwide and bloody pro-democracy protests of November 2019 and sentenced to death by the Mashhad Revolutionary Court.
The mayor of Kyiv expressed solidarity with, and joined, the joint statement issued by Iranian and international athletes opposing the death sentence of Vafaei-Sani. He strongly condemned Iran’s regime for confirming the sentence on October 3, 2024.
🚨 LETTER: Mayor of Kyiv & former boxing champion @Vitaliy_Klychko joins global sports icons urging Iran to halt the imminent execution of boxing champion Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani for joining pro-democracy protests
Join the fight to save Mohammad Javad!
CC: @danawhite @usykaa pic.twitter.com/QIk7HpzXmT
— Justice for the Victims of 1988 Massacre in Iran (@jvmifoundation) November 27, 2025
In his letter, Klitschko emphasized the role of sports in human societies, stating that sports should inspire hope, unity, and courage. He wrote that executing an athlete for his political views is a direct attack on these values and a warning to every athlete who dares to speak out.
He called on the United Nations, international sports federations, and governments to immediately act to save Vafaei-Sani’s life, adding that the world must not remain passive while Iran’s regime silences its champions. He said, “We stand with Mohammad Javad. We stand for justice.”
Earlier, on November 6, 2024, a group of well-known Iranian and international athletes had issued a joint statement addressed to the United Nations, international sports federations, and various governments, warning that Vafaei-Sani’s execution was imminent and urging action to save his life.
The statement emphasized that Mohammad Javad has been imprisoned for more than five years under torture and long stretches of solitary confinement solely for participating in the pro-democracy protests of November 2019 and for supporting the democratic opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
The mayor of Kyiv warned in another part of his letter that in recent months Iran’s regime has executed many other protesters on similar fabricated charges and without any accountability. According to him, this is a ruthless attempt to spread terror and silence a population that is no longer willing to accept a corrupt and repressive rule.
Klitschko added that Vafaei-Sani’s case is not an isolated tragedy and that Iran has a dark record of executing athletes for their beliefs. He cited the executions of Habib Khabiri, the captain of Iran’s national soccer team, and Forouzan Abdi, the captain of the women’s national volleyball team, who was executed alongside 30,000 political prisoners during the 1988 massacre. He also mentioned Navid Afkari, the wrestler executed in 2020 for participating in the peaceful protests of 2017.
Babak Paknia, Vafaei-Sani’s lawyer, announced on October 4, 2024 that the death sentence of his client had been upheld by Branch Nine of the Supreme Court despite what he described as “numerous flaws.” Previously, the Supreme Court had overturned the boxer’s death sentence multiple times.
Security forces of Iran’s regime arrested Vafaei-Sani in March 2020, following the bloody November 2019 protests in Mashhad, and transferred him to Vakilabad Prison.
Approximately two years later, in January 2022, the Mashhad Revolutionary Court sentenced this protesting citizen to death on the charge of “corruption on earth through arson and destruction of public property.”
At present, in addition to prisoners jailed for non-political charges who are executed daily in Iran’s prisons, around 70 political prisoners across the country are at risk of having their death sentences confirmed or carried out.
More than 100 others face the risk of receiving death sentences on similar politically motivated charges.
