Olympians call on Iran to halt execution of boxing champion

Sports personalities including Martina Navratilova and the swimmer Sharron Davies sign letter condemning Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani's death sentence

More than 20 Olympic medallists, coaches and other international athletes, including the tennis player Martina Navratilova and the swimmer Sharron Davies, have signed a letter calling for a halt to the execution of a boxing champion and coach, who is on death row in Iran.

Amid growing international outrage over Iran's escalating use of capital punishment as a tool of oppression, the strongly worded letter condemns the Iranian regime's decision to uphold the death sentence of Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani.