A demonstrator holds a portrait of Mahsa Amini at a protest rally following her death.
Mahsa Amini and the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement in Iran that was triggered by her death were awarded this year’s Sakharov Prize, the European Parliament’s top rights award, the second honor bestowed upon Iranian women this month for their sometimes deadly struggle for human rights after activist Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace prize.
The 22-year-old Amini died in Tehran in September 2022 while in the custody of the notorious Iranian morality police for an alleged hijab infraction. The authorities claimed she had died due to medical problems, but her family and witnesses at the scene of her arrest said she was beaten by police and died as a result of her injuries.
Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament, said when announcing the winners on October 19 that the “brutal murder” of Amini “marked a turning point” in the battle for women’s rights in Iran.
“The selection of our daughter as the winner of the most prestigious human rights award of the European Union shows the attention you and the world community pay to the oppression of [Mahsa] and many of her generation who lost their lives unjustly because of the desire to live a free life,” Amini’s father said in a statement to RFE/RL’s Radio Farda.
“We believe that people’s solidarity and political and social relations around the world should make the world a safer place for children and youth and human life. Those who have many dreams to live a better life in a safe world. Our daughter is not dead. We live with her. We are happy that her name became a symbol of freedom and equality in the world and we feel that she is happy and pleased like us.”
Amini’s death in September 2022 triggered anti-government protests in Iran in what is considered to be the biggest threat to the Islamic government since the 1979 revolution.
Iranian authorities have responded to the unrest with a crackdown on demonstrations that has left hundreds dead and thousands injured.
“I’m very happy, I expected it. I knew it, [she] deserves it. [She’s] worth more than this,” Amini’s mother Mojgan Eftekhari told Radio Farda after the announcement.
“It has triggered a women-led movement that is making history. The world has heard the chants of Women, Rights, Freedom — three words that have become a rallying cry for all those standing up for equality, for dignity, and freedom in Iran,” she said.
Women have been at the forefront of the unrest that Amini’s death unleashed in Iran, with many defiantly removing their hijabs, or Islamic head scarves, in public as a sign of protest. Some — including celebrities and other luminaries — posted videos of themselves on social media cutting their hair. Iranian authorities have tried to tighten restrictions on wearing the hijab, while at the same time making the system less confrontational. But those efforts have largely failed.
On October 1, 16-year-old high-school student Armita Garavand was reportedly assaulted by police on the Tehran subway for not wearing a hijab. She has been in coma since the alleged assault on the Tehran Metro and doctors recently said her condition is deteriorating.
As part of a brutal and sometimes deadly crackdown on dissent, Iran’s security institutions have escalated their aggressive campaign to curb free speech, detaining thousands over the past year in a country that international human rights organizations have consistently ranked as one of the world’s top oppressors.
Earlier this week, an Iranian court sentenced Amini’s lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, to one year in prison on a charge of “propaganda against the system” after he spoke to media about her case.
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is awarded each year by the European Parliament. Named in honor of Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov, it was set up in 1988 to honor individuals and organizations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms and comes with a sum of 50,000 euros ($53,000).
Last year, the European Parliament awarded the prize to the people of Ukraine, represented by their president, elected leaders, and civil society, amid Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Other previous winners include the jailed Russian opposition figure Aleksei Navalny, the democratic opposition in Belarus, and the jailed advocate for China’s Uyghur minority, Ilham Tohti.
The other shortlisted nominees for this year’s Sakharov Prize were rights activists Vilma Nunez de Escorcia and Monsignor Rolando Jose Alvarez Lagos from Nicaragua and three women who have fought for abortion rights — Justyna Wydrzynska from Poland, Morena Herrera from El Salvador, and Colleen McNicholas from the United States.
The movement for women’s rights in Iran was also recognized earlier in October by the Nobel Committee, which awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize to Mohammadi and recognized the hundreds of thousands of people who “have demonstrated against Iran’s theocratic regime’s policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women.”
