Pakistani teen campaigner and education activist Malala Yousafzai has received the EU's Sakharov human rights prize at a ceremony in Strasbourg, on November 19, 2013.
The 16-year-old activist was shot in the head by the Taliban after campaigning for better rights for girls in Pakistan, a year ago. The Taliban's Islamist doctrine puts harsh restrictions on women's rights and one of the militants shot her as she was riding in a bus with school friends.
European Parliament President Martin Schulz presented the award. In a speech she dedicated the award to "the unsung heroes of Pakistan" and to human rights campaigners worldwide.
The Sakharov Prize for free speech is awarded by the European Parliament annually in memory of Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov. More than 20 former laureates attended the ceremony, a parliament spokesman said. Malala Yousafzai is the 25th laureate. She joins a distinguished list of winners of the Sakharov Prize that includes Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi.
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