Sakharov Prize For Freedom Of Thought
- January 1st, 2008
- Posted by EUEditor
Salih Mahmoud Osman, a Sudanese human rights lawyer working in the Darfur region of Sudan, was awarded the 2007 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought (11.12.07).
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT:
Members of the European Parliament from across the political spectrum voted to honour
Mr Salih for his work trying to bring justice to the victims of civil war in the troubled region.
It is estimated that over 400,000 people have died in the civil war in Darfur.
LEGAL HELP FOR DESTITUTE
Mr Salih has for twenty years been providing free legal representation for victims of the fighting and human rights abuses.
He has been active in cataloguing war crimes; his name now connected with providing protection for over two million displaced Sudanese people.
GENOCIDE
Accepting the award in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Mr Salih said the international community should “not abandon” people of Darfur.
He said the situation was a “genocide”; there would be “no peace without justice.”
Andrei Sakharov as a physicist was the “father” of the Soviet hydrogen bomb who became a dissident and human rights campaignedrover concerns about “reckless” nuclear testing. Sent into internal exile in the city of Gorky, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and emerged into public life under “perestroika” in 1986, being elected to the reformed Soviet parliament before his death in 1989.
Reference:
Salih interview transcript: European Parliament. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sakharov_2007/default_en.htm, (1.1.08).
Promotional graphics; prosecution of offender: European Parliament. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sakharov_2007_package/module_en.htm, (1.1.08)
Picture: Salih Mahmoud Osman, Amnesty International