Mahsa Amini, the Iranian woman who died last year at the hands of morality police, received the European Parliament’s Human Rights Prize posthumously. She shares the Sakharov Prize with the women’s rights protest movement sparked by her death.
22-year-old Amini died after being arrested by Iran’s morality police. The Iranian Kurdish student allegedly did not wear her hijab according to the rules. Her death sparked widespread protests in Iran that lasted for months but were brutally suppressed.
European Parliament President Roberta Mizzola says the day Amini died “will live in infamy.” “Today also marks a turning point. The women-led protest movement is making history. The brave and indomitable women and men who are leading the struggle for change” have the eyes and ears of the world, she stressed. “We support you.”
The Sakharov Prize is scheduled to be awarded in Strasbourg next December. The award is named after Soviet dissident and Nobel laureate Andrei Sakharov, and has been awarded since 1988. Last year the award went to the people of Ukraine.