New York, November 20, 2002--The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today presented the recipients of its 2002 International Press Freedom Awards at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
The awardees include: Ignacio Gómez, one Colombia's leading investigative journalists and press freedom activists; Irina Petrushova, founder and editor-in-chief of the weekly Respublika in Kazakhstan; Tipu Sultan, an award-winning free-lance reporter from Bangladesh; and Fesshaye Yohannes, who is the founding editor of Setit and is currently in jail, along with the majority of the Eritrean press corps.
"There is no job more fundamental to journalism than watching a government's performance, analyzing its policies and practices. And there's no job that puts journalists more at odds with those it covers than the role of watchdog. This year, the Committee to Protect Journalists is honoring four people who know that very well," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper while introducing the awardees.
In speaking about the dangers she faces while covering the news in Kazakhstan, Petrushova said, "You can get used to living with pressure, but you can't get used to it when authorities move from psychological to physical pressure and use it as a pretext to put journalists behind bars."
At the press conference, Tipu described how he was abducted and savagely beaten by about 15 thugs wielding baseball bats, hockey sticks, and iron rods after he wrote an article accusing a local legislator of criminal activity. "They left me for dead, so I feel what I have now is a bonus," said Tipu, who has undergone numerous surgeries to repair his right hand, which was crushed in the attack. "I have a second life. I want to dedicate my life from now on to press freedom for journalists and for the people of Bangladesh."
"There is no job more fundamental to journalism than watching a government's performance, analyzing its policies and practices. And there's no job that puts journalists more at odds with those it covers than the role of watchdog. This year, the Committee to Protect Journalists is honoring four people who know that very well," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper while introducing the awardees.
In speaking about the dangers she faces while covering the news in Kazakhstan, Petrushova said, "You can get used to living with pressure, but you can't get used to it when authorities move from psychological to physical pressure and use it as a pretext to put journalists behind bars."
At the press conference, Tipu described how he was abducted and savagely beaten by about 15 thugs wielding baseball bats, hockey sticks, and iron rods after he wrote an article accusing a local legislator of criminal activity. "They left me for dead, so I feel what I have now is a bonus," said Tipu, who has undergone numerous surgeries to repair his right hand, which was crushed in the attack. "I have a second life. I want to dedicate my life from now on to press freedom for journalists and for the people of Bangladesh."
[For more information on the awardees, click on photos above.]
All four journalists will be honored on November 26 at an awards dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. Daniel Pearl, South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, who was kidnapped and murdered while working on a story in Karachi, Pakistan, early this year, will receive the Burton Benjamin Memorial Award, which is given for a lifetime of distinguished achievement for the cause of press freedom. The Burton Benjamin Memorial Award honors the late CBS News senior producer and former CPJ chairman, who died in 1988.
2016
Mahmoud Abou Zeid, Shawkan (Egypt), Malini Subramaniam (India), Can Dündar (Turkey), Óscar Martínez (El Salvador)
2015
Cándido Figueredo Ruíz (Paraguay), Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (Syria), Zone 9 Bloggers (Ethiopia), Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque,“Zunar” (Malaysia)
2014
Aung Zaw (Burma), Siamak Ghaderi (Iran), Mikhail Zygar (Russia), Ferial Haffajee (South Africa)
2013
Janet Hinostroza (Ecuador), Bassem Youssef (Egypt), Nedim Şener (Turkey), Nguyen Van Hai (Vietnam)
2012
Mauri König (Brazil), Dhondup Wangchen (China), Azimjon Askarov (Kyrgyzstan), Mae Azango (Liberia)
2011
Mansoor al-Jamri (Bahrain), Natalya Radina (Belarus), Javier Valdez Cárdenas (Mexico), Umar Cheema (Pakistan)
2010
Mohammad Davari (Iran), Nadira Isayeva (Russia), Dawit Kebede (Ethiopia), Laureano Márquez (Venezuela)
2009
Mustafa Haji Abdinur (Somalia), Naziha Réjiba (Tunisia), Eynulla Fatullayev (Azerbijan), J.S. Tissainayagam (Sri Lanka)
2008
Bilal Hussein (Iraq), Danish Karokhel and Farida Nekzad (Afghanistan), Andrew Mwenda (Uganda), Hector Maseda Gutiérrez (Cuba)
2007
Dmitry Muratov (Russia), Mazhar Abbas (Pakistan), Adela Navarro Bello (Mexico), Gao Qinrong (China)
2006
Jesús Abad Colorado (Colombia), Jamal Amer (Yemen), Madi Ceesay (The Gambia), Atwar Bahjat (Iraq)
2005
Galima Bukharbaeva (Uzbekistan), Beatrice Mtetwa (Zimbabwe), Lúcio Flávio Pinto (Brazil), Shi Tao (China)
2004
Svetlana Kalinkina (Belarus), Aung Pwint and Thaung Tun (Burma), Alexis Sinduhije (Burundi), Paul Klebnikov (United States)
2003
Abdul Samay Hamed (Afghanistan), Aboubakr Jamai (Morocco), Musa Muradov (Russia), Manuel Vázquez Portal (Cuba)
2002
Ignacio Gómez (Colombia), Tipu Sultan (Bangladesh), Irina Petrushova (Kazakhstan), Fesshaye Yohannes (Eritrea)
2001
Jiang Weiping (China), Geoff Nyarota (Zimbabwe), Horacio Verbitsky (Argentina), Mazen Dana (West Bank)
2000
Zeljko Kopanja (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Modeste Mutinga (DRC), Steven Gan (Malaysia), Mashallah Shamsolvaezin (Iran)
1999
Jesús Joel Díaz Hernández (Cuba), Baton Haxhiu (Kosovo), Jugnu Mohsin and Najam Sethi (Pakistan), María Cristina Caballero (Columbia)
1998
Grémah Boucar (Niger), Gustavo Gorriti (Panama), Pavel Sheremet (Belarus), Ruth Simon (Eritrea)
1997
Viktor Ivancic (Croatia), Freedom Neruda (Ivory Coast), Christine Anyanwu (Nigeria). Ying Chan (United States) and Shieh Chung-Liang (Taiwan)
1996
Ocak Isik Yurtçu (Turkey), Daoud Kuttab (Palestinian Authority), J. Jesus Blancornelas (Mexico), Yusuf Jameel (India)