The late Mahsa Amini is named a finalist for the EU’s top human rights prize

BRUSSELS (AP) — Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who died in police custody in Iran last year, sparking worldwide protests against the country’s conservative Islamic theocracy, has been named a finalist for the European Union’s top human rights prize. The European Parliament on Thursday announced the three finalists for this year’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, including Amini, who died on Sept. 16, 2022, after she was arrested for allegedly violating Iran’s mandatory headscarf law. The other nominees are Vilma Nunez de Escorcia and Roman Catholic Bishop Rolando Álvarez — for their fight for the defense of human rights in Nicaragua — and a trio of women from Poland, El Salvador and the U.S. for fighting for “free, safe and legal abortion.”