10 nominees named for Sakharov Prize

BRUSSELS, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- An African activist who fights against female genital mutilation is among 10 candidates nominated for the Sakharov Prize, the European Parliament said.

Mariam Lamizana, a government minister for social action and national solidarity in Burkina Faso, has helped make her country one of the few in Africa where genital mutilation of women "has significantly decreased," her supporters said in nominating her.

Other nominees include Italian journalist Roberto Saviano, threatened by the mafia after publishing the international bestseller "Gomorrah," and Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian gynecologist living in the Gaza Strip who campaigns for peace with Israel despite losing his three daughters in an Israeli attack in January.

The prize, awarded each year to democracy and human rights campaigners, is named after Soviet scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, who died in December 1989.

An organization called Memorial, which promotes fundamental rights in post-Soviet states and was first led by Sakharov, was also nominated.

Other nominations include the Foundation Vicente Ferrer, which promotes minority rights and the eradication of extreme poverty in India.

The European Parliament is expected to announce the winner Oct. 22 and honor the individual or group at an award ceremony in Strasbourg, France, Dec. 16.

The choice of last year's winner, Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia, who called for an official inquiry into the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, infuriated Beijing and strained relations between the European Union and China.