The 17-member panel of a German parliamentary group have nominated Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. The nominations are "in honor of their unparalleled contributions to the pursuit of peace, and their immense personal sacrifices to promote peace for all."
This year started with Assange being arbitrarily detained and tortured, at risk of death according to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and over 100 medical doctors, for revealing the extent of harm and illegality behind the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Manning began 2020 in her second year of imprisonment for resisting to testify to a Grand Jury empaneled against Wikileaks, after having also been previously imprisoned and tortured for seven years, following her disclosures that were published by Assange. While Snowden started 2020 in his 7th year of asylum for revealing illegal mass surveillance, in defense of the liberties underpinning revelations such as those made by Manning and Assange.
The panel concluded that, "a Nobel Peace Prize for Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden would do more than honor their actions as individuals. It would ennoble the risks and sacrifices that those pursuing peace so often undertake, to secure the peace and freedom for all."
The candidates will now be considered by the Nobel Institute’s permanent advisers. In addition to the Institute’s Director and Research Director, the body of advisers generally consists of a small group of Norwegian university professors with broad expertise in subject areas with a bearing on the Peace Prize. The actual winners will be announced later this year.
