EU Parliament's Sakharov Prize was awarded to Jina Amini

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The European Parliament on Tuesday awarded the 2023 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Jina Mahsa Amini and the protest movement in Iran.

The laureates were represented by Saleh Nikbakht, academic and lawyer representing Jina Mahsa Amini’s family; and Afsoon Najafi and Mersedeh Shahinkar, Iranian women's rights defenders who left Iran in 2023.

On their way to France to receive the EP 2023 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, on 8 December 2023, Jina (Mahsa) Amini's parents and brother were stopped at Tehran airport by the Iranian authorities, and their passports confiscated. As a result, Nikbakh represented the family.

The family's lawyer expressed disappointment that there was no Kurdish translator present at the ceremony. However, the EU parliament in the press release did identify Amini as a 22-year Kurdish woman.

Amini was arrested by morality police in Tehran on 13 September 2022 for allegedly ignoring Iran’s strict veiling laws. She died in hospital three days later after physical abuse suffered while in custody.

Her death sparked massive women-led protests across the country.