The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, founded in 1988, is awarded by the European Parliament to honor persons and organisations who defend human rights and fundamental freedoms. The winner of the 2017 award will be announced on October 26.

The nominees for 2017 are:

• Asia Bibi (Aasiya Noreen), a Pakistani Christian woman who received the death penalty in 2010 for blasphemy. Her appeal at the Supreme Court is suspended indefinitely. She was nominated by the European Conservatives and Reformers group in the EP.
• Aura Lolita Chavez Ixcaquic, a human rights advocate from Guatemala. She is a member of the Council of the K'iche' People, an organisation that fights for the protection of natural riches and human rights and against the expansion of the mining, logging, hydropower and agro-industry sectors. This endangered activist was nominated by the Greens/European Free Alliance.
• Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, co-presidents of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey. They were arrested in November 2016 after their parliamentary immunity was lifted. The charge was terrorist activity. They were nominated by the Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left.
• The Democratic Opposition in Venezuela: Members of the National Assembly (including Julio Borges) and all political prisoners, reported by Venezuelan human rights organisation Foro Penal Venezolano, represented by Leopoldo López, Antonio Ledezma, Daniel Ceballos, Yon Goicoechea, Lorent Saleh, Alfredo Ramos and Andrea González. The situation in Venezuela has deteriorated significantly in terms of democracy, human rights and socioeconomic issues in a climate of increasing political and social instability. They have been nominated by the European People's Party and the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. The political prisoners in Venezuela, as well as the democratic opposition in Venezuela, were also nominated for the Sakharov Prize in 2015.
• Dawit Isaak, a Swedish-Eritrean dramatist, journalist and writer, arrested in 2001 by the Eritrean authorities during political oppression. He was imprisoned and was last seen in 2005. In 2009, Isaak was a finalist for the Sakharov Prize. He was nominated by the Group of Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, Cecilia Wikström and 46 other members.
• Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, a Burundian human rights activist and founder and president of the Burundi Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detainees (APRODH). He was detained in 2014 and survived an assassination attempt in 2015. He now lives in Belgium. He was nominated by Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD).

Sakharov Prize

Nominations for the Sakharov Prize can be made by political groups in the European Parliament or by at least 40 MEPs. Based on the nominations, the parliamentary commissions of Foreign Affairs and Development and Cooperation will vote on a shortlist of three finalists. After this, the Conference of Committee Chairs, which includes the president of the European Parliament and the chairmen of the different political groups, will select the winner.

In 2016, the prize was awarded to Nadia Murad and Lamiya Aji Bashar, advocates for the Jezidi community and survivors of sexual slavery by the Islamic State.