Mahsa Amini, the Kurdish-Iranian Woman Who Died in Police Custody, is Awarded EU Human Rights Prize

People attend a protest rally in Rome, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023 to mark the first anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police. (Mauro Scrobogna/LaPresse via AP)
People attend a protest rally in Rome, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023 to mark the first anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police. (Mauro Scrobogna/LaPresse via AP)
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Mahsa Amini, the Kurdish-Iranian Woman Who Died in Police Custody, is Awarded EU Human Rights Prize

People attend a protest rally in Rome, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023 to mark the first anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police. (Mauro Scrobogna/LaPresse via AP)
People attend a protest rally in Rome, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023 to mark the first anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s morality police. (Mauro Scrobogna/LaPresse via AP)

Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who died in police custody in Iran last year, sparking worldwide protests against the country’s conservative theocracy, was awarded the European Union’s top human rights prize on Thursday.
The EU award, named for Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, was created in 1988 to honor individuals or groups who defend human rights and fundamental freedoms. Sakharov, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, died in 1989, The Associated Press said.
Other finalists this year included Vilma Nunez de Escorcia and Roman Catholic Bishop Rolando Álvarez — two emblematic figures in the fight for the defense of human rights in Nicaragua — and a trio of women from Poland, El Salvador and the United States leading a fight for “free, safe and legal abortion.



Melania Trump Says She’s Packed and Ready for the Move Back into the White House

Former first lady Melania Trump speaks at a campaign rally, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP)
Former first lady Melania Trump speaks at a campaign rally, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP)
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Melania Trump Says She’s Packed and Ready for the Move Back into the White House

Former first lady Melania Trump speaks at a campaign rally, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP)
Former first lady Melania Trump speaks at a campaign rally, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP)

Incoming first lady Melania Trump says she's packed and ready to move back into the White House, where son Barron will have a bedroom, and she plans to revive her Be Best children's initiative.

Trump also said in a taped interview broadcast Monday on Fox News' “Fox & Friends” that an upcoming documentary on her life that is set to be distributed by Amazon Prime Video later this year was her idea based on the reception to the memoir she released last year.

“So I had an idea to, to make a movie, to make a film about my life,” she said. “My life is incredible. It’s incredibly busy. And, I told my agent, you know, I have this idea, so please, you know, go out and, make a deal for me.”

The documentary is the latest connection between Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Donald Trump. The company in December announced plans to donate $1 million to the president-elect's inauguration fund, and said it would also stream Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 on its Prime Video service, a separate in-kind donation worth another $1 million.

A week away from the inauguration and the Trumps' return to the White House, Melania Trump said she is “packed” and has picked out the furniture she wants to bring to the executive mansion. The second time has been easier, she said, because she knows the rooms where the family will be living.

“I already packed. I already selected the, you know, the furniture that needs to go in. So it’s, it’s very different, a transition, this time, second time around,” she said.

Their son, Barron, 18 and a freshman at New York University, will have a room for when he visits.

Melania Trump said she's still hiring for her team and plans to resurrect and expand her Be Best initiative, which was centered around childhood well-being, social media use and opioid abuse.