Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, 30, was arrested in 2020 for taking part in nationwide democracy protests, and has been tortured in prison
A boxing champion in prison in Iran is thought to be at imminent risk of execution after his request for a retrial was rejected by the country’s supreme court.
Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, 30, from Mashhad in north-east Iran was arrested in 2020 for taking part in nationwide democracy protests in 2019 and accused of supporting an opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK). He has spent five years in prison, where he has been tortured and put in solitary confinement.
His request for a retrial was turned down on 15 December. On the same day, he was unexpectedly granted a visit from his mother, a move that campaigners believe could signal that he will soon be executed. She was told in a phone call from the prison that his case had been forwarded to the department for the implementation of sentences in Mashhad.
“His life is in grave danger, the execution of his death sentence could occur at any moment,” said Shahin Gobadi, of the foreign affairs committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition of opposition movements. “One has to keep in mind that in the past six years, the regime has used extensive torture and has tried hard to force him to renounce the MEK.”
