Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian woman who died in police custody in Iran last year, triggering worldwide protests against the country’s Islamic theocracy, received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Conscience this Thursday (19). main award related to human rights in the European Union (EU).
The award, named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, was created in 1988 to honor individuals or groups who defend human rights and fundamental freedoms. Sakharov, who won the Nobel Peace Prize, died in 1989.
Amini died on September 16, 2022, three days after being arrested for allegedly violating a law requiring women to wear a veil in Iran. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola declared that the day of Amine’s death “will go down in infamy ” and her “brutal murder” marked a turning point in world society.
“This has sparked a women-led movement that is making history,” Metsola said in announcing the award to Amini and the Women, Life, Freedom movement in Iran.
“The world heard the chants of ‘women, life, freedom.’ Three words that have become a rallying cry for all those who defend equality, dignity and freedom in Iran,” said Metsola.
A year after the wave of demonstrations against the Iranian regime, human rights groups said that more than 500 protesters had been killed by the country’s security forces and more than 19,700 had been arrested. Protests in Iran continue to be harshly repressed.
The awarding of the Sakharov Prize to Amini comes while another young woman, 16-year-old Armita Geravand, is still in a coma for 18 days after collapsing after an alleged encounter with a veil inspector in the subway of Tehran, the capital of Iran, according to groups of human rights outside the country. Iranian authorities say she fainted due to a drop in blood pressure.
Last month, the Iranian regime passed a chastity and veil law that expanded harsh punishments, including a ten-year prison sentence and heavy fines, for women who defy the legal requirement to wear the veil in public.
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