Summary The 16-year-old who has also been nominated for the Nobel peace prize.
STRASBOURG (AFP) - Pakistan s teenage activist Malala Yousafzai, shot by the Taliban for fighting for girls rights to education, on Thursday was awarded the European Parliament s prestigious Sakharov human rights prize.
"Today, we decided to let the world know that our hope for a better future stands in young people like Malala Yousafzai," said the chairman of the conservative European People s Party (EPP), Joseph Daul.
Malala was shot in the head by the Tehreek-e-Taliban on October 9 last year for speaking out against them and has gone on to become a global ambassador for the right of all children to go to school.
Three jailed Belarussian dissidents and US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden had also been short-listed for the parliament s Sakharov prize.
The three Belarussians, Ales Belyatsky, Eduard Lobau and Mykola Statkevich, were jailed after mass protests in Minsk in December 2010 against the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko.
Snowden, the US contractor who revealed widespread spying by the United states on friends and foes alike, has sought asylum in Russia.
Last year s award went to detained Iranians, lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and film-maker Jafar Panahi, to honour those "standing up for a better Iran."
Past winners of the 50,000-euro ($65,000) prize include South African anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela and former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.
