Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai wins EU human rights prize

10 Oct 2013 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A Pakistani teenage activist shot in the head by the Taliban last year for campaigning for better rights for girls, won the European Union's annual human rights award on Thursday, beating fugitive U.S. intelligence analyst Edward Snowden.

Malala Yousafzai, 16, who was attacked in northwestern Pakistan by a group of gunmen who fired on her school bus, is also a favorite among experts and betting agencies to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought is given by the European Parliament each year since 1988 to commemorate Soviet scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov. Its past winners include Nelson Mandela and Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi.

Snowden had been nominated by the Green group in the parliament for what it said was his "enormous service" to human rights and European citizens when he disclosed secret U.S. surveillance programs.

Yousafzai was chosen as the winner after a vote among the heads of all the political groups in the 750-member parliament.

(Reporting by Justyna Pawlak; editing by Luke Baker)

(Source : Reuters)

World News - Main

Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai wins EU human rights prize

Most Popular Articles

2026 FIFA World Cup Schedule in Sri Lankan Standard Time

Former National Lotteries Board Chairperson Shyamila Perera arrested

FIFA World Cup 2026 Quarter Finals Bracket and Schedule: Road to the Final Takes Shape

Historic locomotive move between Kandy and Peradeniya without tracks

UPDATE - Death toll rises to 26, over 100 injured

Updated World Test Championship standings after West Indies’ record win over Sri Lanka

Latest News

Navy seizes over 60,000 illegal sea cucumbers, arrests 26 in Mannar

Conjoined twins successfully separated at Peradeniya

CAA raids Colombo–Jaffna train restaurant over overpriced bottled water

GMOA warns of misleading social media post

2,498 qualify for South Korean jobs