By Pishtaz | 2023-10-20

The European Union on Thursday (October 19) awarded its top rights honor, the Sakharov Prize, to Mahsa Amini and the "Women, Life, Freedom" movement that was formed in Iran following her death.

The Iranian Kurdish 22-year-old died in custody of the regime's "morality police" on September 16, 2022, sparking months-long anti-establishment protests across Iran, which were supported in many other countries.

European Parliament speaker Roberta Metsola referred to Amini's "brutal murder" as the start of a "women-led movement that is making history."

The movement's three-word slogan was "a rallying cry for all those standing up for equality, for dignity, and for freedom in Iran," she added.

In light of the Sakharov Prize win, the Amini family said the 22-year-old was not dead to them, and they "live with her."

The award, named for the Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, was created in 1988 to honor individuals or groups defending human rights and fundamental freedoms. Sakharov, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, died in 1989.

Amini died in custody of the "morality police" three days after she was arrested for allegedly violating Iran's mandatory headscarf law.

"The Sakharov Prize is a powerful reminder of Europe's commitment to freedom," French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).

"It goes today to Mahsa Amini and to all Iranian women who are courageously fighting for their rights."

Crackdown, resistance continue

Meanwhile, in Iran, Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Court has sentenced prominent Iranian attorney Mohammad-Saleh Nikbakht, who represents the Amini family, to one year in prison on a charge of "propaganda against the system" after he conducted interviews with several foreign media outlets.

Ali Rezaei, Nikbakht's attorney, said on Wednesday that the sentence is the maximum penalty typically meted out in such cases.

Iranian security forces have cracked down on the protests domestically, killing over 500 protesters for participating in what officials have called "riots." Thousands were arrested amid the protests.

Despite the clampdown, bare-headed Iranian women appearing in public are a familiar sight these days, as many women continue to defy the state-mandated headscarf.

The "Women, Life, Freedom" campaign continues in cities around the world, with frequent demonstrations in which Amini's photo is held aloft.

Prizes recognize defiance of regime

Amini's prize comes two weeks after prominent imprisoned Iranian rights activist Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize.

As many in the world applauded the Nobel Committee's decision to award this year's Peace Prize to Mohammadi, Tehran called the award "biased and political."

The rights activist is the second Iranian to win the Nobel Peace Prize after human rights activist Shirin Ebadi won the award in 2003.

Mohammadi is also the vice-president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center founded by Ebadi.

Currently incarcerated, Mohammadi is a longtime civil and human rights activist who has spent years in Iran's prisons, including in Zanjan and the notorious Evin prison in Tehran, where she is imprisoned now.

Her Nobel Peace Prize was in recognition of her fight against the mandatory headscarf in Iran and against the oppression of women in the country.

Together, the Sakharov and Nobel Peace prizes awarded to two Iranian women this year draw attention to the Iranian regime's decades-long violation of women's personal rights and freedoms.