MEPs cancel Iran trip over Sakharov meeting

EUObserver reported that two Iranian dissidents, Jafar Panahi (a film maker) and Nasrin Sotoudeh (a human rights lawyer), have won the European Parliament's 2012 Sakharov Prize for free speech, with a group of Members of the European Parliament due in Tehran on the 28 October 2012 to hand-deliver a letter on the award. [In the event the visit by the MEPs was cancelled].

The €50,000 Sakharov Prize is to be handed over at a ceremony in Strasbourg in December 2012.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: EU ministers to toughen sanctions on Iran http://www.europeansources.info/record/eu-ministers-to-toughen-sanctions-on-iran/

ESO: Key source: Sakharov Prize http://www.europeansources.info/record/sakharov-prize-for-freedom-of-thought/

EP: Press Release, 26.10.12: Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2012 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/content/20120921FCS52015/

BBC News, 26.10.12: Iran dissidents Sotoudeh and Panahi win Sakharov prize http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20095403

EurActiv, 26.10.12: Iranian lawyer and filmaker win EU's Sakharov Prize http://www.euractiv.com/global-europe/iranian-lawyer-filmaker-win-eus-news-515705

EUObserver, 13.12.12: Iranian prize winners put their necks on the line http://euobserver.com/foreign/118517

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