Candido Figueredo,
border-beat reporter for the
Paraguayan newspaper ABC Color,
poses for a photo, in Asuncion,
Paraguay, Sept. 15, 2015.
Associated
Press
September
16, 2015 8:40 AM
NEW YORK—
International
journalists who have endured
death threats, physical attacks
and imprisonment or exile are
to be honored with Press Freedom
Awards.
The Committee
to Protect Journalists' 2015
International Press Freedom
Awards will
be presented to Malaysia's
Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, Paraguay's
Candido Figueredo Ruiz and bloggers
and journalists from Ethiopia
and Syria at a ceremony in New
York on Nov. 24.
Ulhaque, CPJ's first cartoonist
awardee, is charged with sedition
and faces a possible jail sentence
for drawings lampooning high-level
abuse in the Malaysian government,
the committee said. Ruiz lives
under 24-hour police protection
for reporting on drug smuggling
on the Brazil-Paraguay border.
The
Ethiopian honorees are bloggers
for the Zone 9 group, whose
name is a reference to the eight
zones of a notorious prison.
Six of the bloggers have been
arrested and charged with terrorism
for critical reporting.
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The
Syrians are affiliated with
the citizen journalist collective
Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently.
The committee described it as
one of the few independent news
sources that continue to report
from inside the Islamic State's
self-proclaimed capital.
“In
a very dangerous period for
journalists, these awardees
have braved threats from repressive
governments, drug cartels, and
[the] Islamic State,” CPJ Executive
Director Joel Simon said. “Whether
through blogs or traditional
media outlets, or by drawing
cartoons, they risk their personal
safety and freedom to bring
us the news.”
Veteran
Associated Press foreign correspondent
Kathy Gannon, who was shot six
times by an Afghan security
officer while on assignment
in Afghanistan, will receive
the Burton Benjamin Memorial
Award for lifetime achievement
in the cause of press freedom.
Gannon and AP photographer
Anja Niedringhaus were covering
presidential elections in eastern
Afghanistan when the shooting
happened in April 2014. Niedringhaus
was killed, and Gannon was badly
wounded.
“Gannon
is widely known as one of the
most thoughtful and dedicated
journalists covering the region,”
said Sandra Mims Rowe, chairman
of CPJ's board of directors.
The winners will
be honored at a ceremony hosted
by ABC “World News Tonight”
anchor David Muir. |
