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Pictures of Sotuodeh and Panahi being put up in the EU parliament (Photo: europarl.europa.eu)

Iranian prize winners put their necks on the line

The winners of this year's EU Sakharov prize for free speech have risked their safety by speaking out to MEPs on Wednesday (12 December).

The statements - by imprisoned Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, and by Iranian film maker Jafar Panahi, who is under a six-year suspended sentence - were read out on their behalf in Strasbourg because Iran declined to let them collect the award in person.

Sotoudeh's letter, read by exiled Iranian lawyer and Nobel laureate, Shirin Eb...

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's Foreign Affairs Editor. He has been writing about foreign and security affairs for EUobserver since 2005. He is Polish but grew up in the UK. He has also written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The Times of London.

Pictures of Sotuodeh and Panahi being put up in the EU parliament (Photo: europarl.europa.eu)

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's Foreign Affairs Editor. He has been writing about foreign and security affairs for EUobserver since 2005. He is Polish but grew up in the UK. He has also written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The Times of London.

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