Mohammad Javad Vafaei-Sani has received support from the international sporting community since his arrest in 2019. He will be honoured in London on Thursday.
He protested against the regime and was sentenced to death as a result – now the Iranian boxer Mohammad Javad Vafaei-Sani has been honoured for his activism.
As announced by the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign, the 31-year-old was awarded the prize in the ‘Outstanding Human Rights Activist’ category in London on Thursday. Vafaei-Sani, who is currently imprisoned in Iran, was unable to accept the award in person. In recent years, numerous human rights organisations as well as many sportspeople have spoken out in support of Vafaei-Sani.
Vafaei-Sani protested against the Iranian regime
In 2019, the boxer took part in protests and the popular uprising in November against the Iranian regime. He was arrested in March 2020 on charges of membership of an opposition organisation. Vafaei-Sani has been in custody since his arrest; the death sentence, first handed down in 2022, was upheld once again by the Supreme Court of Iran on 4 October 2025, following two previous overturns. Applications for a retrial were rejected. The human rights organisation Amnesty International recorded at least 2,159 executions in Iran in 2025 – a figure that has doubled compared with 2024.
Vafaei-Sani’s plight has not only prompted more than 85 human rights organisations worldwide to come to his support, but has also sparked an extraordinary movement of solidarity within the world of sport. In November 2025, more than 20 Olympic medallists, coaches and international sporting figures appealed to their governments to take action. The execution would be “a warning to any athlete who dares to take a stand”. Among the signatories were tennis legend Martina Navratilova and swimmer Sharron Davies.
Maske and Klitschko called for action
Former world boxing champions Henry Maske and Vitali Klitschko also called for urgent international action. “As someone who has dedicated his life to a sport based on discipline, dignity and mutual respect, I cannot remain silent whilst an athlete is threatened with death because of his beliefs,” Maske wrote in a letter: “Sport must never be used as a tool to intimidate or oppress people.”
The Magnitsky Awards, which have been presented since 2015, recognise commitment to human rights, justice and the fight against impunity. They are named after the lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who was murdered in Russian police custody in 2009 after exposing a massive system of state corruption. His client, William Browder, founded the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign.