Azadlig reporter is among the nominees for the RSF Press Freedom Awards

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) today released the names of the 22 nominees for the 2016 Reporters Without Borders-TV5 Monde Prize for Press Freedom, which will be awarded to three laureates – a journalist, a media outlet and a citizen journalist – at a ceremony in Strasbourg on 8 November. This is the 25th year running that RSF has awarded this prize.

Many journalists and bloggers have continued to distinguish themselves in 2016 by the immense courage they display in their daily reporting despite the risks to their lives. Many of this year’s nominees, who are from 19 countries, are being prosecuted or are in prison for refusing to censor themselves. Others are exposed to threats and physical violence from those they dare to criticize.

“Authoritarian regimes cracked down harder on journalists and bloggers in 2016,” RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “It is no coincidence that nearly half of the nominees work in the bottom 20 of the 180 countries in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index. RSF hails the courage and determination of all these women and men with a common commitment to fighting for freedom of information.”

“A significant number of the nominees are unfortunately in the process of being prosecuted or are languishing in jail solely because they wanted to inform their fellow citizens about matters of public interest,” RSF programme director Lucie Morillon said.

“Those in prison include Egyptian journalist Ismail Alexandrani, Azerbaijani journalist Seymour Khazi and Chinese citizen journalists Chinois Lu Yuyu and Li Tingyu who, like many other citizen journalists all over the world, took over when the authorities stifled the traditional media. We call for their unconditional release and the withdrawal of all the charges against them.”

A 29-year-old former nurse from Homs, Hadi Abdullah has had many brushes with death as a freelance reporter who became a target for both government forces and rebel armed groups and saw his cameraman killed. Afghan journalist Najiba Ayubi, the head of the Killid Media Group, has also been threatened with death but continues her fight for media freedom.

Colombian investigative reporter Jineth Bedoya continues to defend women who have been the victims of violence while Maldives Independent editor Zaheena Rasheed embodies tenacity in the fight against impunity for crimes of violence against journalists. Rasheed covers highly sensitive stories in her now Islamist country and has been outspoken in her criticism of the authorities since one of her reporters, Ahmed Rilwan, disappeared in 2014. Fearing arrest, she finally fled Maldives in September.

Judicial harassment is a problem shared by Alfred Taban, the well-known founder and editor of South Sudan’s first newspaper, The Juba Monitor, Mahfuz Anam, the editor of Bangladesh’s Daily Star, and French investigative journalist Edouard Perrin, who helped to expose the LuxLeaks scandal in Luxembourg. But none of them is in prison. Egyptian investigative reporter Ismail Alexandrani and Seymour Khazi, a well-known reporter for Azerbaijan’s sole remaining opposition daily, Azadlig, are not so lucky. Both are jailed on trumped-up charges. -0-