Parliament's President Jose Maria Gil-Robles presented this year's Ecu 15,000 Sakharov prize for freedom of thought to Salima Ghezali, an active human rights campaigner in Algeria. Only last month we reported that last year's Sakharov prize winner, Wei Jingsheng, had at last been released by the Chinese authorities. In an extremely moving speech, she thanked Parliament for this prestigious award. She spoke emotionally about the painful situation in her country where millions of people are suffering from terrorism, war, murder, bomb attacks and torture.After working for improvements for women's rights, Salima Ghezali turned her attention towards defending human rights and democracy, following the deterioration of the situation in Algeria. She launched a weekly magazine La Nation, exposing human rights violations in the country. After antagonising both the Algerian authorities and Islamic extremists, it was closed down in 1996.Ms Ghezali continues to speak out against censorship and violence on the part of the authorities and the Islamic parties. On 25 April 1995, Salima Ghezali came to a hearing on press and media freedom organised by the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights. She told MEPs about the horrific situation facing her country, where more than 60,000 lives have been lost, including those of 59 journalists. She expressed the fears and constraints imposed on journalists in Algeria. Nevertheless, Salima has made it clear that her aim is to seek a peaceful solution to the civil war by promoting dialogue.