Iranian boxer on death row pledges defiance after receiving human rights award

Iranian boxing champion and political prisoner Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani has pledged to continue resisting oppression after receiving the Magnitsky award for outstanding human rights activist. The 31-year-old, who has been sentenced to death three times, was honoured at a ceremony in London on Thursday night.

Writing from Vakilabad prison in north-eastern Iran, Vafaei Sani dedicated the recognition to people imprisoned, tortured, threatened or condemned to death for seeking a free Iran. He also accepted it on behalf of his fellow resistance unit members and a generation sacrificing their lives for freedom. Describing demands by the authorities for repentance and televised confessions, he declared: “We will never surrender; we will never submit to humiliation.”

Vafaei Sani was detained in 2020 following his participation in nationwide democracy protests the previous year. He was accused of supporting the opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, known as MEK. Convicted of “corruption on Earth”, he received his third death sentence in September 2024 after proceedings Amnesty International described as “a grossly unfair trial”. The supreme court upheld the sentence on 4 October 2025. During his imprisonment, he has suffered torture and prolonged solitary confinement.

Prominent sportspeople, rights organisations and legal experts have condemned his detention and demanded his immediate release and the cancellation of his death sentence. Sir William Browder, who heads the Magnitsky Justice Foundation and chairs the awards committee, said the case reflected the danger facing many Iranians who oppose the regime. He argued that international attention makes it harder for authorities to execute Vafaei Sani quietly.

Established in 2015, the Magnitsky awards recognise human rights work by activists, journalists and politicians. They commemorate Sergei Magnitsky, the Russian lawyer who exposed government corruption and subsequently died in Russian police custody.

The Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights says Iran has executed at least 710 people since the start of 2026, among them 79 political and religious prisoners. Its October report recorded at least 106 death sentences against people detained over the January protests, with 35 already executed. At Vakilabad prison, five people have been executed in connection with the protests, while another 15 face death sentences.

Zohreh Abdollahkhani, founder of Human Rights for Sport, warned that seven athletes, including Vafaei Sani, are at risk of execution. Mountaineer Ali-Sina Mostafavi was executed on 14 October after the anti-government protests. Taekwondo athlete Siavash Jamshidi Kheirabadi was killed earlier that month, while mixed martial arts fighter Gholamreza Khani Shakarab was hanged in May.

Abdollahkhani said the award had prompted celebrations and support from people who did not share Vafaei Sani’s political views. She described the willingness of different political groups to unite against executions as inspiring.

In his prison message, Vafaei Sani outlined his hopes for a democratic Iran with free voting, equality between women and men, and no discrimination based on ethnicity, religion or belief. He also called for an end to imprisonment and execution for political opposition, pledging to maintain his resistance until Iranians are free.