Two Yazidi survivors of IS group win Sakharov prize: sources

STRASBOURG, FRANCE: Two Yazidi women activists who escaped the Islamic State group in Iraq won the European Parliament’s prestigious Sakharov human rights prize on Thursday, European sources said.

The prize will be awarded to Nadia Murad and Lamia Haji Bashar during a midday session of the assembly in Strasbourg, France, the sources said shortly before the official announcement.

The women have become figureheads for the effort to protect the Yazidi community after having survived a nightmare captivity at the hands of the jihadists.

Exiled Turkish journalist Can Dundar and Crimean Tatar activist Mustafa Dzhemilev were also shortlisted for prestigious award.

Named after the dissident Soviet scientist Andrei Sakharov, who died in 1989, the prize is awarded every year to honour individuals who combat intolerance, fanaticism and oppression, often falling foul of their governments as a result.

Last year, the European Parliament awarded the prize to Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi, jailed for “insulting” Islam.