The European Parliament announced yesterday the awarding of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Conscience to the young Iranian activist Mahsa Amini and the Women, Life and Freedom movement, which protested against legal discrimination against women in Iran.
The award, which is granted every year by the Eurochamber to recognize the defense of human rights, highlights the figure of the young Kurdish woman who died more than a year ago at the hands of the so-called morality police after being arrested for allegedly wearing the wrong veil
Amini’s death triggered strong protests that lasted months calling for the end of the Islamic Republic and only disappeared after a crackdown that caused 500 deaths, the arrest of at least 22,000 people and in which seven protesters were executed, one of them in public
“Let our award serve as a tribute to the brave women and men who, despite the growing pressure, are leading the fight for change”, said the president of the Eurochamber, Roberta Metsola, yesterday. “The European Parliament listens to them and is on their side”, stressed Metsola.
The Sakharov prize, endowed with 50,000 euros, will be collected during the December plenary session in Strasbourg.
Mahsa Amini’s candidacy started as a great favorite because she received both the support of the popular MEPs and the illiberal social democrats.
As finalists were the Nicaraguans Vilma Núñez de Escorcia, director of the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights, and Monsignor Rolando José Álvarez Lagos, currently arrested for refusing to leave the country, who have fought for the rights of the population in their country against the regime of Daniel Ortega. Three women who fight for legal, safe and free abortion were also finalists: the Polish Justyna Wydrzynska, the Salvadoran Morena Herrera and the American Colleen McNichols.
Last year, the European Parliament awarded the prize to the people of Ukraine, represented by its president, elected leaders and civil society. Named after Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov, this award was created in 1988 to honor individuals and organizations that defend human rights and fundamental freedoms.