Brussels, 14/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - The following individuals have been nominated for the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought: Angelina Acheng Atyam (Uganda, Co-Founder of a parents' association against the use of child soldiers); Sihem Ben Sedrine (Tunisia, journalist and spokesperson for National Council for Liberties - CNLT); Francisco de Roux (Colombia, Founder of the association "Laboratorio de Paz"); Izzat Ghazzawi and Nurit Peled-Elhanan (Palestine/Israel, both involved in the peace process); Zacarias Kamuenho (Angola, Archbishop of Lubango, involved in the peace process); Patrick Leahy (USA, Senator leading criminal justice and death penalty reforms); Mr Li Hongzhi (China, a leader of Falun Gong); Ngawang Sangdrol (China/Tibet, human rights activist imprisoned in Tibet) and Morgan Tsvangirai (Zimbabwean opposition leader).
The Committee on Foreign Affairs will decide which three candidates to propose at its meeting on 2 October, from amongst whom the Conference of Presidents will select the winner at its meeting on 4 October on the margins of the Strasbourg plenary session. The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought has been awarded every year since 1988 to people such as Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, Wei Jingsheng, Ibrahim Rugova and, in 2000, to the Basque organisation "Basta Ya!".