Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-12-14-Speech-3-117-000"
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"en.20111214.18.3-117-000"2
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"Welcome, dear friends. I should so much have liked to have been with you today to receive this prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and to thank you for this immense honour that you have bestowed upon me. Personal circumstances have meant that I am unable to be with you. However, my sincere wishes and my heart are with you all.
While I am happy to receive this prestigious prize and to be with you, albeit symbolically, I am sad about what is happening at the moment in Syria. Every hour, every minute, every second, someone is killed and this saddens and embitters me.
I believe that the souls of the dead, the wounded, the people in the streets, are all here with us today. They speak to us of the importance and the great value of freedom and they tell us that it is a gift from God.
A short time ago, I asked one of my friends: ‘As you go out and demonstrate in the streets every day, are you not scared of being killed?’ He replied: ‘Of course, I am constantly weighing up the risks and I know that death is round the corner. But you understand, Ali, how precious freedom is. This is the first time in my life that I have managed to make my voice heard. I had not heard my own voice for 50 years, until today. Whatever happens and may happen to me, I will at least have asserted my right to life and to freedom’.
I should like to extend my deepest gratitude to everybody here today and to all those who have contributed to honouring me within the European Parliament – I would like to send best wishes to Mr Geoffrey Harris, Head of the Human Rights Unit, and to Mr Buzek, President of the European Parliament."@en1
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