Vietnamese priest, Fr Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, is among nine nominees for this year’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to be awarded by the European Parliament.Nine nominations for the 2010 Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought have been tabled by EP political groups or groups of over 40 MEPs.
The nominees are the “Access” movement, Haytham Al-Maleh, Israeli NGO “Breaking the Silence”, Guillermo Fariñas, Aminatou Haidar, Dawit Isaak, Birtukan Mideksa, Father Thadeus (Nguyën Van Ly) and the Christian mission “Open Doors”.
On 5 October 2010 these nominations will be presented at a joint meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Development committees and the Human Rights Subcommittee, followed on 18 October by a vote to determine the three finalists.
The overall winner will be decided by the EP Conference of Presidents on 21 October in Strasbourg, and invited to attend the award ceremony on 15 December, also in Strasbourg.
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