Iranian human-rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has received the 2026 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize, an award that connects contemporary civil-society activism with the political and intellectual legacy of the former Czech and Czechoslovak president.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe announced the result in Strasbourg on 28 September. Sotoudeh’s daughter, Mehraveh Khandan Heris, accepted the award on her behalf, while the laureate addressed the ceremony by video from Tehran.
Sotoudeh, 63, is known for representing journalists, political activists, members of minority groups and children facing execution. She has also campaigned against Iran’s compulsory hijab rules and the death penalty. Her work has brought repeated arrests and lengthy prison sentences; she was detained again in April 2026 and released on bail in May. Portal
She is the first Iranian woman to receive the Havel Prize. In 2012, she and film director Jafar Panahi were awarded the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
This year’s other finalists were Iranian-American journalist and women’s-rights campaigner Masih Alinejad and Márta Pardavi, co-chair of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. Pardavi’s inclusion also gave the shortlist a direct Central European dimension, reflecting her work monitoring law enforcement, judicial independence and Hungary’s human-rights record.
Created in 2013, the annual Havel Prize recognises civil-society action in defence of human rights in Europe and beyond. It carries €60,000, a diploma and a trophy. Previous laureates include Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski, Yazidi campaigner Nadia Murad, Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala and Ukrainian journalist Maksym Butkevych. Portal
The award is named after Václav Havel, the playwright and dissident who became the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic. It is organised by the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly with Czech partners, including the Charter 77 Foundation.
Its Czech institutional framework has changed this year. The organisation formerly called the Václav Havel Library withdrew from co-organising the prize following a dispute over the use of Havel’s name and was subsequently renamed the First Presidential Library. The prize itself continues, preserving its international role independently of that institutional change.
The distinction cannot provide Sotoudeh with legal protection inside Iran, and Czech analysts cautioned against overstating its practical effect. It does, however, give her work additional visibility and signals that pressure on independent lawyers remains part of Europe’s human-rights agenda.
