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Thursday, October 29, 2015

Saudi Blogger Raif Badawi Awarded Sakharov Human Rights Prize

Saudi Blogger Raif Badawi, whose flogging sentence caused an outcry, has been awarded the European Parliament's Sakharov human rights prize.

Parliament President Martin Schulz urged Saudi King Salman "to free him, so he can accept the prize".

Raif Badawi was sentenced to 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes in Saudi Arabia for "insulting Islam".

Raif Badawi, author of the website Free Saudi Liberals, was convicted of insulting Islam in 2012 and fined £175,000.
He received the first 50 lashes of his sentence in January, but subsequent floggings have been postponed


Note

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought has been awarded by the European Parliament since 1988 to individuals or organisations for their contribution to the fight for human rights and democracy.
It is named after the Soviet scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov.

Previous winners include Nelson Mandela, Myanmar activist Aung San Suu Kyi and Pakistani education campaigner Malala Yousafzai.

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, named after Societ Scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov  was established in December 1988 by the European Parliament as a means to honour individuals or organisations who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought

The Sakharov Prize is usually awarded annually on or around December 10th, the day on which the UN General Assembly ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948

A shortlist of nominees is drawn up by the Foreighn Affairs Committee and the Development Committee, with the winner announced in October every year

The prize is accompanied by a monetary award of €50,000

Winners Details


Year
Recipient
Details
1988
Nelson Mandela(South Africa)
Anti-apartheid activist and later President of South Africa
1988
Anatoly Marchenko(Posthumously)
Soviet dissident, author and human rights activist
1989
Alexander Dubcek(Czech Rep)
Slovak politician, attempted to reform the communist regime during the Prague Spring
1990
Aung San Suu Kyi(Myanmar)
Opposition politician and a former General Secretary of the National League for Democracy
1991
Adem Demaci(Kosovo)
Kosovo Albanian Politician and long-term political prisoner
1992
Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo
Association of Argentine mothers whose children disappeared during the Dirty War
1993
Oslobodenje(Bosnia&Herzegovina)
Popular newspaper, continued to publish after its office building was destroyed in Sarajevo
1994
Taslima Nasrin(Bangladesh)
Ex-doctor, feminist author
1995
Leyla Zana(Turkey)
A female politician of Kurdish descent from Eastern Turkey, who was imprisoned for 10 years for speaking her native language of Kurdish in the Turkish Parliament
1996
Wei Jingsheng(PRC)
An activist in the Chinese Democracy Movement
1997
Salima Ghezali(Algeria)
Journalist and writer, an activist of women's rights, human rights and democracy in Algeria
1998
Ibrahim Rugova(Kosovo)
Albanian politician, the first President of Kosovo
1999
Xanana Gusmao(East Timor)
Former militant who was the first President of East Timor
2000
iBasta Ya(Spain)
Organisation uniting individuals of various political positions against terrorism
2001
Nurit Peled-Elhanan(Israel)
Peace activist
2001
Izzat Ghazzawi(Palestine)
Writer, professor.
2001
Dom Zacarias Kamwenho(Angola)
Archbishop and peace activist
2002
Oswaldo Paya(Cuba)
Political activist and dissident
2003
Kofi Annan(Ghana) & UN
Nobel Peace Prize recipient and seventh Secretary-General of the United Nation
2004
Belarussian Association of Journalists
NGO "aiming to ensure freedom of speech and rights of receiving and distributing information and promoting professional standards of journalism"
2005
Ladies in White(Cuba)
Opposition movement, relatives of jailed dissidents
2005
Reporters Without Borders
France-based non-governmental organisation advocating freedom of the press
2005
Hauwa Ibrahim(Nigeria)
Human rights lawyer
2006
Alaksandar Milinkievic(Belarus)
Politician chosen by United Democratic Forces of Belarus as the joint candidate of the opposition in the presidential elections of 2006
2007
Salih Mahmoud Osman(Sudan)
Human rights lawyer
2008
Hu Jia(PRC)
Activist and dissident
2009
Memorial(Russia)
International civil rights and historical society
2010
Guillermo Farinas(Cuba)
Doctor, journalist and political dissident
2011
Asmaa Mahfouz(Egypt),Ahmed al-Senussi(Libya), Razan Zaitounech(Syria),Ali Farzat (Syria)and Mohamed Bouazizi of Tunisia(Posthumously)
Five representatives of the Arab people, in recognition and support of their drive for freedom and human rights.
2012
Jafar Panahi,Nasrin Sotoudeh
Iranian activists, Sotoudeh is a lawyer and Panahi is a film director.
2013
Malala Yousafzai(Pakistan)
Campaigner for women's rights and education
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