Iranian boxer on death row wins 2026 Magnitsky Human Rights Award

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Iranian political prisoner and boxing champion Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani has been named the 2026 Magnitsky Human Rights Award winner in the Outstanding Human Rights Activist…

Iranian political prisoner and boxing champion Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani has been named the 2026 Magnitsky Human Rights Award winner in the Outstanding Human Rights Activist category, according to the award organizers on Tuesday.

Vafaei Sani, a boxing coach from Mashhad, was arrested in 2020 over his participation in nationwide anti-government protests in November 2019. He was charged with “corruption on earth” and sentenced to death following judicial proceedings widely condemned by international human rights organizations as unfair.

Iran's Supreme Court overturned his death sentence twice, but he received a third death sentence in September 2024, which was upheld in October 2025.

Prominent athletes, Olympic medalists and human rights advocates have called for Vafaei Sani's immediate release and the annulment of his death sentence.

The November 2019 protests erupted following a sharp increase in gasoline prices and spread to more than 100 cities and towns across Iran. About 1,500 people were killed during the crackdown, Reuters reported in December 2019, citing three Iranian Interior Ministry officials.

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