🔶 Nasrin Sotoudeh and Masih Alinejad named nominees for the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize

The Council of Europe announced on Tuesday, 10 Shahrivar (1 September) that Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer and human rights activist, and Masih Alinejad, a journalist and women’s rights activist, have been introduced as the final nominees for the “Václav Havel” Human Rights Prize together with Marta Pardavi, a Hungarian human rights activist.

Named after Václav Havel, the former political opponent and president of the Czech Republic, the prize since 2013 has been awarded every year by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to protesting activists and artists who, with courage and creativity, fight against authoritarian governments.

Masih Alinejad, a 49-year-old journalist and advocate for women’s rights, is the other nominee for this prize. Alinejad is known, among other things, for launching the “Stealthy Freedom” campaign on social media; a campaign that encouraged Iranian women to remove compulsory hijab. The Council of Europe said Alinejad has played a role in drawing global attention to the suppression of women in Iran.