Sakharov prize awarded to Iranian human rights activists

The decision was taken unanimously.

The European Parliament’s for Freedom of Thought prize was awarded to an Iranian human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh and her compatriot a film director Jafar Panahi.

The president of the European Parliament Martin Schultz announced the decision at a plenary session, Interfax reports.

“The Andrei Sakharov for Freedom of Thought prize for 2012 will be awarded to Ms Nasrin Sotoudeh and Mr Jafar Panahi from Iran. It was decided unanimously at a conference of the factions’ chairmen”, - the head of the European Parliament said.

The announcement of the winners came right after the parliamentary debate on human rights violations in the world.

Apart from the Iranian laureates in the short-list there were the chairman of the Belarusian human rights center Viasna Ales Bialiatski, sentenced to four and a half years in high security prison in 2011, and the participants of a Russian punk rock band Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samutsevich.