Mahsa Amini, women’s movement in Iran win EU’s Sakharov freedom prize

The European Union parliament awarded its annual Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Iranian woman Mahsa Amini who died in police custody last year and the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement in Iran, it said on Thursday (19 October).

“On 16 September we marked one year since the murder of Jina Mahsa Amini in Iran. The European Parliament proudly stands with the brave and defiant who continue to fight for equality, dignity and freedom in Iran,” EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola said in a statement.

“By choosing them as laureates…this House remembers their struggle and continues to honour all those who have paid the ultimate price for liberty.”

Amini, 22, born in Iran’s western province of Kurdistan, died in morality police custody in September last year after being arrested for allegedly flouting the Islamic Republic’s mandatory dress code.

While Amini’s family said she had been killed by blows to her head and limbs, the authorities said she had died due to existing medical problems.

Her death sparked months of protests that spiralled into some of the worst political turmoil since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Under the banner “Woman, Life, Freedom”, Iranian citizens have been protesting against laws obliging women to cover their hair and wear loose fitting clothing.

Iran protests Western stance on mass protests over Mahsa Amini's death

Iran summoned the British and Norwegian ambassadors over what it called interference and hostile media coverage of the nationwide unrest triggered by the death of a woman detained by morality police.

Iranian security forces have continued their crackdown on dissent and briefly detained Amini’s father on the anniversary of her death.

The European distinction comes in the footsteps of the Nobel committee, who on 6 October gave the Nobel Peace Prize to jailed women’s rights advocate Narges Mohammadi, in a rebuke to Tehran’s theocratic leaders and boost for anti-government protesters.

Jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi wins Nobel Peace Prize

Iran’s jailed women’s rights advocate Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday (6 October) in a rebuke to Tehran’s theocratic leaders and boost for anti-government protesters.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Narges Mohammadi as a biased move aimed at politicising the prize.

Established in 1988, the Sakharov award was named in honour of Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov.

The first winners were anti-Apartheid activist and South African former-president Nelson Mandela and Soviet dissident and author Anatoli Marchenko.

In 2022, the prize was awarded to the people of Ukraine.

(Edited by Georgi Gotev)

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