"The 2014 Right Livelihood Honorary Award goes to Edward Snowden for his courage and skill in revealing the unprecedented extent of state surveillance violating basic democratic processes and constitutional rights," the Stockholm-based Right Livelihood Award Foundation said in a statement.
Asma Jahangir has been honoured "for defending, protecting and promoting human rights in Pakistan and more widely, often in very difficult and complex situations and at great personal risk."
The prize, known as the 'alternate Nobel Prize', is awarded annually "to honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today", according to the foundation.
As an honorary award winner, the whistleblower - who has lived in exile in Russia since 2013 - would not receive the customary 500,000 kronor (54,500 euros, $70,000) prize money, but the foundation said it would "fund legal support for him" without disclosing the amount.
Alan Rusbridger, editor in chief of the Guardian newspaper, which first published details of global US electronic surveillance based on Snowden's leaks, also won an honorary award for "responsible journalism in the public interest".
The other three prize winners - who will each receive 500,000 kronor to further their work – include Jahangir, Sri Lankan rights activist Basil Fernando and US environmentalist Bill McKibbben.
"We want to send a message of urgent warning that these trends -- illegal mass surveillance of ordinary citizens, the violation of human and civil rights, violent manifestations of religious fundamentalism, and the decline of the planet's life-supporting systems -- are very much upon us already," said Ole von Uexkull, the foundation's director in a statement.
Swedish-German philatelist Jakob von Uexkull founded the donor-funded prize in 1980 after the Nobel Foundation behind the Nobel Prizes refused to create awards honouring efforts in the fields of the environment and international development.
The Right Livelihood Award Foundation often calls its distinction the "alternative Nobel prize".
The awards will be formally handed over at a ceremony in the Swedish parliament on December 1.
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Indeed quite disappointing - atleast not on the basis of human rights.....
The masters beckon! ..let's hurry..we've been rewarded!
Congratulations Asma. You are brave and a role model.
Congratulations Asma. She deserves this award.
UD, with head Carl Bildt, has refused to give Edward Snowden the price and instead ported the Right Livelihood Award Foundation from the ceremony.
Ole von Uexkull the head of Right Livelihood Award Foundation, says Carl Bildt is acting like a coward for not recognizing acts for the Human Right and democracy when it stand up against more powerful states.
Of of that ryhmes well with the fact that undercover agencys is all okay in Sweden as long as if it driven by left-wing extremists (read: Expressen/Expo/Researchgruppen with their Piscatus database) while anything, information colleting and/or whistle blowers or equal, against political right-wing is considered like a crime, especially when done against US or other countries that Sweden has good cooperation with.
Asma Jehangir rocks !! Congrats..
Asma Jahangir deserves this prize. I have always admired her. She is truthful and has not hesitated to criticize anyone or tell the facts even when threatened.
Let see how many people comment on this article, There are very few people who can stand up against extreme conservative society and promise some freshness in near future. Way to go. I pray you don't end up like Malala.