Acclaim for Nobel Prize winner Malala 'contrasts sharply with mess of Sakharov Prize', say MEPs

Amid widespread praise for Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai (pictured), who was also the winner of last year’s Sakharov Prize, an MEP has warned that there will be “little public enthusiasm” for Europe’s highest honour in 2014 should it be won by an Azerbaijani activist accused of fraud.

Despite the fact that Leyla Yunus faces graft and tax avoidance charges in her home country, she made the shortlist for the European Parliament Sakharov award at the expense of Iraqi Professor Mahmoud Al-Asali, killed defending Christians against Islamic State gunmen this year.

"If the allegations against Leyla Yunus are true then she is clearly not a suitable candidate. If awarded the prize, I should think there would be little public enthusiasm," said UK MEP Roger Helmer.

"My view is that the Sakharov Prize is less about celebrating freedom, and more about promoting the European Parliament."

Malala shared the Nobel Prize with Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi; a man said to have saved 80,000 children from child labour. The award was entirely free of controversy, which, Helmer noted, “contrasts sharply” with the Sakharov Prize this year.

A German centre-right MEP, who did not wish to be named, also noted the “stark” comparison between the Sakharov Prize controversies and the Nobel Peace Prize.

"We need to contrast the public acclaim and unanimity of Nobel winners with mess of this year’s Sakharov Prize. After all, there hasn’t been a jot of controversy from the Nobel academy,” he said.

“The contrast between the two is quite stark."

Aside from the discord over the Yunus nomination, the there was another Sakharov Prize controversy this month when the left-wing GUE group was forced to withdraw its support for an Egyptian blogger who advocated “killing all Zionists”. Alaa Abdel Fatah, had taken to Twitter to call for the murder of “a number of Jews”.

Malala's victory has also been praised by the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission president José Manuel Barroso who said the choice "sends a strong message to those who try to impeach on the fundamental right to education, by violence, suppression and cowardly threats".

Malala said awarding the Peace Prize to a Pakistani Muslim and an Indian Hindu "gives a message to people of love between Pakistan and India, and between different religions".

The three finalists are Ukraine’s pro-European EuroMaidan movement; Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynaecologist specializing in the treatment of rape victims; and Leyla Yunus.

The Conference of Presidents, or group leaders, will reach a final decision on 16 October and the award ceremony will take place next week in Strasbourg.

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