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Yazidi activist wins Nobel Peace Prize

Nadia Murad Basee Taha adresses the European Parliament during an award ceremony for the 2016 Sakharov Prize at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, December 13, 2016. Murad Basee Taha received the prize with Lamiya Aji Bashar (not pictured), both Iraqi women of the Yazidi faith.  REUTERS/Vincent Kessler - RC1F7E7163D0

Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad won the Nobel Peace Prize today alongside Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege.

Murad was forced into sexual slavery at age 21 when the Islamic State targeted the ethnic and religious minority group for genocide in Iraq in 2014. Since fleeing the group after three months of captivity she has been named the UN’s first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking.

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