The European Parliament 2023 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought was awarded to Jina Mahsa Amini and the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in Iran, in a ceremony on 12th December.
Saleh Nikbakh addresses the European Parliament.
The laureates were represented by Saleh Nikbakht, academic and lawyer representing Jina Mahsa Amini’s family; and Afsoon Najafi and Mersedeh Shahinkar, Iranian women’s rights defenders who left Iran in 2023.
Jina Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, was arrested by police in Tehran on 13th September 2022 for allegedly ignoring Iran’s strict veiling laws.
She died in hospital three days later after physical abuse suffered while in custody.
On their way to France to receive the 2023 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, on 8th December 2023, Jina Mahsa Amini’s parents and brother were stopped at Tehran airport by the Iranian authorities, and their passports confiscated.
They are now subject to a travel ban.
On Saturday, Roberta Metsola, called on “the Iranian regime to reverse its decision”.
Alona Lebedieva.
Read also: Alona Lebedieva: “It is women who can play a key role in the prevention and settlement of military conflicts, in building peace”
Main image: Photographer: Mathieu CUGNOT, European Parliament
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