Brussels, 09/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - Each year, the European Parliament awards the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought after a selection procedure in which the sub-committee on human rights and the conference of presidents of the political groups take part. The list of candidates put forward by the political groups with a view to the sub-committee meeting to be held on Monday 12 September, the first stage of this selection procedure, is: - Hauwa Ibrahim, first female lawyer from northern Nigeria, defending women accused of adultery under Sharia law; her candidature is put forward by the Socialist Group; - Reporters without Borders, the association defending freedom of the press worldwide and which enjoys the support of the ALDE Group; - Yang Zili, Mojtaba Saminebad and Zouhair Yahyaoui, three cyber-dissidents proposed by the Greens/EFA Group and Chinese, Iranian and Tunisian respectively; - Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani victim of rape ordered by a village council as punishment for her brother charged of adultery; the candidature is backed by the GUE/NGL Group; - Alexander Yessenin-Volpin and Sergei Kovalev, two former Soviet dissidents supported by the IND/DEM Group; - and Gunars Astra, another Soviet dissident proposed by the UEN Group.
Four “individual” candidatures are also presented. The elected members of the EPP-ED, Gerardo Galeote and José Ribeiro, support the candidature of the “Ladies in White”, a group of women who stand up for the rights of Cuban political prisoners by protesting peacefully for the political prisoners in Cuba. Irish EPP member Simon Coveney (FG) proposes Ibrahim Adam Mudawi, the founder of a Sudanese NGO working for human rights and development. Luxembourg Christian Democrat Erna Hennicot-Schoepges puts forward the name of the pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboïm and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Austrian Socialist Karin Scheele defends the candidature of Aminatou Haidar, a Saharoui activist arrested during the demonstration on 17 June in El Ayoun, Morocco.