Strasbourg
(AsiaNews / Agencies) - Two Iranian dissidents - Nasrin Sotoudeh and Jafar
Panahi - are the winners of the Sakharov Prize which the European Union since
1988 awards each year to those who spend themselves for the defense of human
rights. The
two activists share the prize of 50 thousand Euros that accompany the recognition.
Nasrin
Sotoudeh is a lawyer who defended opposition activists and human rights
defenders, including Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Laureate in 2003. Arrested
in 2010 on charges of conspiracy and propaganda against the state, is serving a
sentence of six years in the notorious Evin prison. Recently
she declared a hunger strike to protest against the harassment to which her
husband and two children are subjected.
"I
know - she wrote in a letter to her children - that you require water, food, housing, a
family, parents, love, and visits with your mother." This
last sentence refers to the prohibition of receiving visitors including family
that was imposed following her refusal to wear the chador.
The
other award is Jafar Panahi, a director, known for his films about life in
Iran, where they are prohibited. His
documentary "This Is Not a Film" was smuggled into his country in a
USB stick hidden in a cake.
Since
2010 he has been under house arrest and he is forbidden to make films.
Martin
Schulz, President of the European Parliament, said :" The award ... is a message of solidarity and recognition to a woman and
a man who have not been bowed by fear and intimidation and who have decided to
put the fate of their country before their own. "