Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, a political prisoner on death row in Iran’s Vakilabad Prison, accepted the 2026 Magnitsky Outstanding Human Rights Defender Award at a ceremony in London on Thursday, November 12. In a message from prison, he dedicated the honor to imprisoned and persecuted Iranians and reaffirmed his call for a free, democratic Iran.
From Vakilabad Prison, Mashhad, Iran
Message from Political Prisoner on Death Row Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani From Behind Prison Bars
To the 2026 Presentation Ceremony of the Magnitsky Outstanding Human Rights Defender Award
I accept this award in the name of all those who have been imprisoned, tortured, threatened, or sentenced to death for their aspiration to see a free Iran;
In the name of my comrades in the Resistance Units, and an entire generation that is paying the price of freedom with its lives.
In the summer of 1988, approximately 30,000 political prisoners, the majority of them supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), were massacred for remaining steadfast in their convictions.
Today, I too have been sentenced to death for the same reason: because I refuse to renounce my dignity and honor.
The regime demands that we repent, appear in televised confessions, and surrender. But our answer is clear: Far be it from us to accept humiliation! We will never submit to disgrace.
We want a free and democratic Iran, an Iran ruled by neither Shah nor Mullahs.
These aspirations are embodied in Mrs. Maryam Rajavi‘s Ten-Point Plan, which calls for free elections, the separation of religion and state, gender equality, the abolition of the death penalty, and the establishment of a democratic republic.
I remain steadfast in my pledge, and I will never bow to oppression until the people of Iran are free.
As the Leader of the Resistance has said: We resist, therefore we exist.
Death-Row Political Prisoner Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani: “We Will Never Surrender”
In a message from Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, read at the 2026 Magnitsky Human Rights Awards ceremony in London, Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani dedicated his Outstanding Human Rights Activist Award… https://t.co/rPCbzb8FG3 pic.twitter.com/jNKvr5mkkm
— SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) November 13, 2026
Full Message
Dear Friends,
I send my greetings to all of you gathered at the London conference from Vakilabad Prison, a high-security prison in Mashhad, northeastern Iran. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to you all.
Delivering this message from behind prison walls is extremely difficult. With tremendous effort and the help of my friends, I am sending it to you, hoping it will reach you. I am glad that your voices of solidarity can cross the prison walls and reach us.
I am deeply grateful to all of you for awarding me the 2026 Magnitsky Outstanding Human Rights Defender Award. It is a great honor for me. I do not consider this award to belong to me alone. I am but a small member of a resistance movement that has struggled for years against the fundamentalist Islamic regime so that the people of Iran may attain freedom.
I accept this award in the name of all those who have been imprisoned, tortured, threatened, or sentenced to death for their aspiration to see a free Iran; in the name of my comrades in the Resistance Units, and an entire generation that is paying the price of freedom with its lives.
Dictatorships fear people who stand firm and refuse to surrender. In the summer of 1988, approximately 30,000 political prisoners, the majority of them supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), were massacred for remaining steadfast in their convictions. Today, I too have been sentenced to death for the same reason: because I refuse to renounce my dignity and honor.
The regime demands that we repent, appear in televised confessions, and surrender. But our answer is clear: Far be it from us to accept humiliation! We will never submit to disgrace.
Inside Iran, this regime brutally represses young people and women. Abroad, it seeks to discredit the Resistance through a relentless campaign of lies and disinformation. The regime has no fear of monarchist restorationists because they have no social base inside Iran and depend on foreign powers. We, however, oppose foreign war. We firmly believe that change can only be brought about by the Iranian people themselves, through organized resistance and a nationwide uprising.
We want a free and democratic Iran — an Iran in which neither Shah nor Mullahs rule; where people can vote freely; where women and men enjoy equal rights; where there is no discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, or belief; and where no one is imprisoned or executed for their political convictions.
These aspirations are embodied in Mrs. Maryam Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan, which calls for free elections, the separation of religion and state, gender equality, the abolition of the death penalty, and the establishment of a democratic republic.
I remain steadfast in my pledge, and I will never bow to oppression until the people of Iran are free.
As the Leader of the Resistance has said: We resist, therefore we exist.
From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for organizing this ceremony, presenting me with this award, and above all, for ensuring that Iran’s political prisoners are not forgotten.
I hope that one day soon, you will have the opportunity to visit a free Iran.
Message from Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, PMOI supporter and political prisoner on death row, from Vakilabad Prison, Mashhad, Iran — Aban 1405 (October–November 2026).