Two Yazidi women who escaped sexual enslavement by so-called Islamic State (IS) in Iraq have won Europe’s top human rights award, the Sakharov prize*.
Nadia Murad Basee and Lamiya Aji Bashar were among thousands of Yazidi girls and women abducted by IS militants and forced into sexual slavery in 2014. But both survived and now campaign for the Yazidi community.
Leader of the liberal ALDE group in the European Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt, said of the winners, “inspirational women who have shown incredible bravery and humanity in the face of despicable brutality. I am proud that they have been awarded the 2016 Sakharov Prize”
Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, last year’s winner, is currently serving a ten-year prison sentence which includes 1,000 lashes for “insulting Islam” online.
*The freedom of thought prize is awarded annually in memory of Andrei Sakharov, a Soviet scientist and dissident.
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