GENEVA, July 20 (Reuters) – Dozens of human rights activists along with prominent lawyers and former prosecutors have written to the UN human rights chief urging him to intervene to try to prevent the execution of an Iranian boxer, according to a letter published on Thursday.
Mohammad Javad Vafa’i Thani, who was jailed for his role in anti-government protests in 2019, was told on Wednesday that his execution verdict had been finalized, according to the letter dated July 19.
“We urge you to issue an urgent public appeal to the Iranian authorities to end the impending execution sentence of Vafa’i Thani,” says the document, signed by 83 people, including former head of the International Criminal Court, Judge Sang-Hyun Song, more than a dozen current and former UN human rights officials as well as former prosecutors.
Iranian justice was not immediately available to comment on the case. However, his lawyer Babak Paknia said in a tweet that the judiciary did not inform them of the verdict.
A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said: “We have received information on this case and we are following it up and collecting additional information.”
Last year, Iran was rocked by large protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022 while in the custody of the country’s vice squad.
Since then, at least seven people have been executed over verdicts linked to the unrest, which religious leaders have accused the country’s enemies of fomenting.
Turk has been pushing for a trip to the country and a meeting with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, although there has been little to no indication that these efforts are bearing fruit.
Reporting by Emma Farge and Parisa Hafezi in Dubai; Editing by Alison Williams
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