Journalist Can Dündar and fellow defenders of freedom of thought and expression in Turkey, the Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzemilev, the Yazidi survivors and public advocates Nadia Murad Basee and Lamiya Aji Bashar as well as Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti are this year's nominees for the Sakharov Prize. The European Parliament awards the Sakharov Prize every year to honor exceptional individuals and organizations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms. The laureate is selected in late October. Last year the prize was awarded to Raif Badawi.