The 2012 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought has been awarded to Iranian human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh and Iranian film producer Jafar Panahi, European Parliament Chairman Martin Schultz said in Strasbourg on Friday.

The decision was made unanimously by the conference of chairmen of the factions, Schultz said.

The prize winners were announced after the parliamentary debate on human rights violations worldwide.

Among the finalists were Ales Bialiatski, chairman of the Belarusian human rights center Vyasna, who was sentenced to 4.5 years in a penal colony in 2011, and members of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich.

Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova are serving two-year sentences in penal colonies for their action at the cathedral of Christ the Savior. Samutsevich received a suspended sentence and was released by the Moscow City Court.