A boxer and political prisoner on death row in Iran said he will “never surrender” as he accepted a prestigious human rights prize on behalf of “the generation that is paying the price of freedom with their lives”.
Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, an Iranian boxing champion, coach and political prisoner, has been sentenced to death three times and is one of seven athletes at risk of execution in Iran. He was given the Magnitsky award for outstanding human rights activist at a ceremony in London on Thursday night.
In a written message from Vakilabad prison in north-eastern Iran, he said: “I accept this award in the name of all those who, for the ‘crime’ of aspiring to a free Iran, have been imprisoned, tortured, threatened, or sentenced to death; in the name of my comrades in the resistance units and the generation that is paying the price of freedom with their lives.”
He added: “The regime demands repentance, televised confessions and surrender from us. But our answer is clear: ‘We will never surrender; we will never submit to humiliation.’” » | Sarah Johnson | Friday, November 13, 2026
