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En En Notice to Members European Parliament 2014-2019 Committee on Development Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Human Rights 13.9.2018 NOTICE TO MEMBERS Subject: SAKHAROV PRIZE FOR FREEDOM OF THOUGHT 2018 Members will find attached the list of candidates (in alphabetical order) who have been nominated for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2018 pursuant to the Sakharov Prize statute by at least 40 Members of the European Parliament or by a political group, as well as the justifications and biographies received by the Human Rights Actions Unit. DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR EXTERNAL POLICIES CM\1162428EN.docx PE628.016v01-00 EN United in diversity EN SAKHAROV PRIZE FOR FREEDOM OF THOUGHT 2018 Candidates proposed, in alphabetical order, by political groups and individual Members Candidate Activity Nominated by AFRIFORUM is an NGO that aims at protecting the rights of minorities in South Africa with a specific focus on the rights of Afrikaners. AFRIFORUM tries to raise awareness on the problem of farm attacks and farmer murders, and on the expropriation of farmland without compensation. Europe of Nations and 1 AFRIFORUM Such a policy, which the ANC government wants to Freedom carry out, threatens not only the livelihood of farm owners, but of all farm workers, regardless of their ethnicity. This is especially pertinent in a context of an endemic violent crime problem, and a political climate in which leaders openly incite violence against farmers. Seyran ATEŞ is a German lawyer of Turkish origin and an activist fighting against political and religious extremism, including the oppression of women. After setting up a first mosque in which, European contrary to the usual practice in Islam, women and Conservatives and men can pray together, she opened the Ibn Rushd Reformists Group 2 Seyran ATEŞ Goethe Mosque in Berlin in June 2017. Despite and having become the victim of death threats requiring Hans-Olaf Henkel and her to receive personal protection around the clock, 40 other Members ATEŞ remains a courageous champion of a modern and open Islam, which the Berlin mosque represents. CAESAR is the code name of a former Syrian military photographer who smuggled more than 55,000 photographs documenting the gravest crimes out of Syria. Human Rights Watch confirmed the authenticity of his photographs, which play an Group of the Alliance 3 CAESAR essential role in building criminal and civil cases of Liberals and against those responsible. CAESAR took a great Democrats for Europe risk, to take the chance of seeing accountability for the crimes he documented. He thus made a courageous contribution to the fight against impunity in Syria. PE628.016v01-00 2/15 CM\1162428EN.docx EN Dewayne JOHNSON is a former groundskeeper who worked for a school district in Benicia, USA, and who just won a landmark case against Monsanto, with the Jury awarding him $289 million in damages. JOHNSON was the first person to take Europe of Freedom Dewayne 4 the company to trial over allegations that their and Direct Democracy JOHNSON herbicide sold under the brand Roundup cause Group cancer. JOHNSON is a dying man with just months to live. He nevertheless stood proudly during the process hoping that his victory would set a precedent for other cases against Montsanto. Boat Refugee Foundation, Jugend Rettet, Lifeline Rescue Boat, Médecins Sans Frontières international, MOAS, Proactiva Open Arms, Nominated by the PROEM-AID, Save the Children, Sea Eye, Sea- NGOs protecting Group of the Watch, and SOS Mediterranée: since 2015, the human rights and Progressive Alliance workers and volunteers of these NGOs have been saving lives of of Socialists and saving lives of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, 5 migrants across Democrats while risking their own. They defend human rights the and and the respect for international law and uphold Mediterranean every day the values and principles on which the EU Group of the Sea is founded. However, for that they have experienced Greens/European Free pressure, smear campaigns, harassment and judicial Alliance persecution, and today face serious obstacles to their work. Oleg SENTSOV is a Ukrainian film director, born in 1976. He was detained on 10 May 2014 in Simferopol, Crimea, and convicted to 20 years of imprisonment on charges of plotting terrorist acts against Russian "de facto" rule in Crimea. Amnesty lnternational described the court process as "an unfair trial before a military court". He was Group of the sentenced because he believed in the supremacy of 6 Oleg SENTSOV European People's law and values, over brute force and deception. This Party (Christian makes him a prisoner of conscience. Continuing his Democrats) hunger strike for over 100 days now, SENTSOV has also become a powerful symbol of the fate of the approximately 70 Ukrainian citizens illegally arrested and convicted to long prison sentences by the Russian occupation forces in the Crimean peninsula after its annexation. CM\1162428EN.docx 3/15 PE628.016v01-00 EN Mary WAGNER is a Canadian activist who was imprisoned, whereas she only tried to talk to women entering an abortion clinic and was giving each one a rose. Her case gathered international attention in 2011 and she is known worldwide as a prisoner of conscience. Not only did she inspire many people to 7 Mary WAGNER Marek Jurek and 41 save women and their babies from tragedy, but she other Members also became a hero of humanity who is now a global voice of unborn children in fight for their human rights. She spent almost five long years in jail for her peaceful efforts to save women and children from the violence of abortion. Nasser ZEFZAFI is the leader of the Hirak, a social movement in the Rif region (Morocco) that claims Group of the dignity, equality and social justice. Since 2016, the European United Moroccan authorities have imprisoned more than Left/Nordic Green 2,000 people in connection with the Rif protests and Left some, including minors, received heavy sentences. 7 Nasser ZEFZAFI and Arrested in May 2017, ZEFZAFI was condemned in June 2018 to 20 years in prison for "conspiracy Marie-Christine against the security of the State". On 21/8, King Vergiat, Kati Piri, Mohammed VI pardoned 188 Hirak activists, but Judith Sargentini and not him. From 30/8 to 6/9, ZEFZAFI was on hunger 39 other Members strike to denounce his conditions of detention. PE628.016v01-00 4/15 CM\1162428EN.docx EN AfriForum Nominated by the Europe of Nations and Freedom AfriForum is a non-governmental organisation founded in 2006, registered as a non-profit company, with the aim of protecting the rights of minorities in South Africa. While the organisation functions on the internationally recognised principle of the protection of minorities, AfriForum has a specific focus on the rights of Afrikaners as a community living in South Africa. Membership is, however, not exclusive, and any person who can associate him or herself with the contents of the Civil Rights Manifest of the organisation, may join. The organisation is active in several fields: safety and security, community affairs, local government, environmental affairs, education as well as preserving the language, culture and heritage in South Africa. AfriForum tries to raise national and international awareness on the problem of farm attacks and farm murders, and on the expropriation of farm land without compensation (EWC). Such a policy, which the ANC government wants to carry out, is a threat to property rights, food supply and food security. Not only does it threaten the livelihood of farm owners, but of all farm workers, regardless of their ethnicity. This is especially pertinent in a context of an endemic violent crime problem, and a political climate in which leaders like Mr Julius Malema, president of the third-largest political party in South Africa, openly incite violence against farmers. CM\1162428EN.docx 5/15 PE628.016v01-00 EN Seyran Ateş Nominated by the European Conservatives and Reformists Group and Hans-Olaf Henkel and 40 other Members Seyran ATEŞ is a lawyer and an activist born in Istanbul, Turkey. Her family moved to Germany when she was six years old. In July 2017, together with the former Austrian Federal Councillor Efgani Dönmez and the lawyer Sebastian Reimer, she initiated the European Citizens‘ Initiative Stop Extremism (ECI), a package of measures against political and religious extremism in Europe. The aim is to address loopholes in the fight against extremism and establish effective protection of European citizens. In 2016, ATEŞ, along with others, began setting up a mosque in which, contrary to the usual practice in Islam, women and men can pray together. On June 16, 2017, she opened the Ibn Rushd Goethe Mosque in Berlin. After about 100 death threats, she started receiving personal protection around the clock. Despite having become the victim of threats, ATEŞ has incarnated her role as a courageous champion of a modern and open Islam, which the Berlin mosque represents. Through lectures and publications, she fights against the oppression of women, which is symbolised in forced or child marriages and honour killings, legitimised by a false understanding of Islam. She has received several death threats and left her job for six years, as she was scared for her own life and the life of her daughter. In the summer of 2012, she reopened her law office to be a lawyer, especially for women seeking help. As a student, she worked in a centre for women from Turkey who wanted to protect themselves from domestic violence to finance her law studies at the Free University of Berlin. In 1984, during the counselling session, a man shot her client and seriously injured Seyran ATEŞ. ATEŞ had a near-death experience. Therefore, ATEŞ remarkable achievements and determination, as well as her tireless and persevering commitment to human rights and freedom, make her a formidable candidate for the Sakharov Prize.
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