Letter to the editor: Why Is Iran’s regime afraid of a boxer?

OPINION:

On Nov. 12, Iranian boxing champion and coach Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani received the prestigious Magnitsky Human Rights Award.

But he was absent from the ceremony in London. While his courage was being honored, he remained in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, Iran, facing a death sentence.

Why does a government consider an athlete so threatening that it has sentenced the man to death three times?

Mr. Vafaei Sani was arrested following the 2019 protests and accused of membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). In a message from prison, he dedicated his award to those who have been imprisoned, tortured or sentenced to death for aspiring to a free Iran.

For the regime, the real threat is what Mr. Vafaei Sani represents: a connection between public recognition, personal courage and organized opposition to Islamic Republic rule.

Large segments of Iranian society are increasingly angry over poverty, corruption and repression. The authorities cannot be sure that they will be able to contain the next wave of protests.

Under these circumstances, executions serve a purpose beyond punishing individual prisoners. Every death sentence can send a warning to others about the price of organized resistance to the regime.

This reality also matters for American policy. Washington’s debates about Iran focus largely on that country’s nuclear program, missiles and regional conflicts. These threats are real, but Iran’s behavior abroad cannot be fully understood without recognizing the regime’s fear of its own people.

For a ruling system whose survival depends on repression, external confrontation offers an opportunity to mobilize security forces and portray political opponents as collaborators with foreign enemies.

That is why a temporary ceasefire or a limited agreement cannot by itself guarantee lasting peace. As long as the machinery of domestic repression remains intact, the incentive to manufacture external crises to preserve power may persist.

The United States must not treat executions and political prisoners as secondary concerns in its Iran policy. Demanding an end to Mr. Vafaei Sani’s death sentence and defending the fundamental rights of the Iranian people are essential components of a realistic security strategy.

HAMID ENAYAT

Paris, France