Women | Farkhunda Muhtaj, ex-captain of Afghanistan's women's football team, won the 2026 Magnitsky Award, saying it belongs to all Afghan girls fighting for rights

ACW | November 14, 2026 — Farkhunda Muhtaj, former captain of Afghanistan's women's national football team, has won the 2026 Magnitsky Human Rights Award for Outstanding Young Human Rights Activist, the awards' website says.

She received the award at a ceremony held by the Magnitsky Foundation in London on Thursday night, Rukhshana Media reported. Zahra Joya, Rukhshana's founder and editor-in-chief, presented it.

Muhtaj said the award belonged to all Afghan girls who fight every day for their human rights, according to Rukhshana. She asked the audience to imagine waking up as a woman in Afghanistan who has lost all her rights.

After the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Muhtaj helped lead the evacuation of more than 300 Afghans, including members of the country's youth national team, the Magnitsky Awards said. She co-founded Scarborough Simbas, a Canadian nonprofit that uses sport to help refugees and newcomers.

Joya told the ceremony that conditions for Afghan women had worsened since she spoke on the same stage two years ago, saying the Taliban had built what she called a system of "gender apartheid," Rukhshana reported. The Taliban have not commented on the award.

Background: The foundation honored activists, journalists and political prisoners from seven countries, including Afghanistan and Iran, in seven categories this year, Rukhshana said. Earlier this month, Chatham House gave its annual prize to Afghan women (Chatham House presents its 2026 prize to Afghan women).

Why it matters: Muhtaj helped more than 300 Afghans leave after 2021, according to the Magnitsky Awards, and told the London audience that Afghan women live every day without their human rights, Rukhshana reported.

ACW will continue to follow this story.

Sources: Magnitsky Human Rights Awards — 2026 winner Farkhunda Muhtaj; Rukhshana Media — report from the London ceremony

Photo: Magnitsky Human Rights Awards