Mustafa Haji Abdinur of Somalia, Naziha Réjiba of Tunisia, Eynulla Fatullayev of Azerbaijan, and J.S. Tissainayagam of Sri Lanka have faced imprisonment, threats of violence, and censorship to stand up for press freedom in their countries.
Mustafa Haji Abdinur of Somalia, Naziha Réjiba of Tunisia, Eynulla Fatullayev of Azerbaijan, and J.S. Tissainayagam of Sri Lanka have faced imprisonment, threats of violence, and censorship to stand up for press freedom in their countries.
“These are reporters who risk their personal freedom and
often their lives to ensure that independent voices resonate within their
nations and across the globe,” said CPJ Board Chairman
“These journalists are being honored not only because
they embody what CPJ stands for, but because they have fought against injustice
to uphold the values of press freedom,” CPJ Executive Director
Anthony Lewis, noted author, journalist, and scholar, will receive CPJ’s Burton Benjamin Memorial Award for lifetime achievement in recognition of his continued efforts to ensure a free press around the world.
The awards will be presented at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City on Tuesday, November 24. Robert Thomson, editor-in-chief of Dow Jones and managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, is chairman of the black-tie dinner. Christiane Amanpour, CPJ board member and CNN’s Chief International Correspondent, will be the host.
Here are the recipients of CPJ’s 2009 International Press Freedom Awards:
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Mustafa
Haji Abdinur, Somalia: Haji has seen six of his colleagues die this year on
the streets of Mogadishu—caught in the crossfire of battling insurgents, or
gunned down for their work. He is one of a very small number of courageous
journalists still working in
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Naziha
Réjiba,
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Eynulla
Fatullayev, Azerbaijan: When Fatullayev’s friend and colleague
Elmar Huseynov was murdered, the journalist set out to find his killer—and ended
up facing more than eight years in prison. In 2005, Fatullayev was working as an
investigative reporter for the opposition magazine Monitor when his colleague and
Editor-in-Chief Elmar Huseynov was assassinated. In 2007, he published an
article in Realny Azerbaijan, a
newspaper he founded after Huseynov’s assassination. The article, “Lead and
Roses,” accused Azerbaijani authorities of obstructing the investigation into
the killing and alleged that Huseynov’s murder was ordered by high-ranking
officials in
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J.S.
Tissainayagam,
Burton Benjamin Memorial Award: Anthony Lewis, United States
CPJ will honor Anthony
Lewis with the Burton Benjamin Memorial Award given for a
lifetime of distinguished achievement in the cause of press freedom. Twice
awarded the Pulitzer Prize, Lewis is a former columnist for The New York Times. He is widely
recognized as one of the
“For more than 50 years, Tony Lewis has been a frontline observer and eloquent chronicler of the issues surrounding press freedom,” CPJ’s Steiger said. “Two generations of readers owe to him much of their understanding of the crucial role that the First Amendment—and journalism—serve in democracy.”
CPJ will also finally present an award to 2001 winner Jiang Weiping from
The International Press Freedom Awards, now in their 19th year, are the centerpiece in CPJ’s annual fund-raising effort, providing more than a third of the budget for our press freedom advocacy efforts around the world.
To attend the awards dinner, please call CPJ's Development Office at 212-465-1004 x 113.
Mahmoud Abou Zeid, Shawkan (Egypt), Malini Subramaniam (India), Can Dündar (Turkey), Óscar Martínez (El Salvador)
Cándido Figueredo Ruíz (Paraguay), Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (Syria), Zone 9 Bloggers (Ethiopia), Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, “Zunar” (Malaysia)
Aung Zaw (Burma), Siamak Ghaderi (Iran), Mikhail Zygar (Russia), Ferial Haffajee (South Africa)
Janet Hinostroza (Ecuador), Bassem Youssef (Egypt), Nedim Şener (Turkey), Nguyen Van Hai (Vietnam)
Mauri König (Brazil), Dhondup Wangchen (China), Azimjon Askarov (Kyrgyzstan), Mae Azango (Liberia)
Mansoor al-Jamri (Bahrain), Natalya Radina (Belarus), Javier Valdez Cárdenas (Mexico), Umar Cheema (Pakistan)
Mohammad Davari (Iran), Nadira Isayeva (Russia), Dawit Kebede (Ethiopia), Laureano Márquez (Venezuela)
Mustafa Haji Abdinur (Somalia), Naziha Réjiba (Tunisia), Eynulla Fatullayev (Azerbijan), J.S. Tissainayagam (Sri Lanka)
Bilal Hussein (Iraq), Danish Karokhel and Farida Nekzad (Afghanistan), Andrew Mwenda (Uganda), Hector Maseda Gutiérrez (Cuba)
Dmitry Muratov (Russia), Mazhar Abbas (Pakistan), Adela Navarro Bello (Mexico), Gao Qinrong (China)
Jesús Abad Colorado (Colombia), Jamal Amer (Yemen), Madi Ceesay (The Gambia), Atwar Bahjat (Iraq)
Galima Bukharbaeva (Uzbekistan), Beatrice Mtetwa (Zimbabwe), Lúcio Flávio Pinto (Brazil), Shi Tao (China)
Svetlana Kalinkina (Belarus), Aung Pwint and Thaung Tun (Burma), Alexis Sinduhije (Burundi), Paul Klebnikov (United States)
Abdul Samay Hamed (Afghanistan), Aboubakr Jamai (Morocco), Musa Muradov (Russia), Manuel Vázquez Portal (Cuba)
Ignacio Gómez (Colombia), Tipu Sultan (Bangladesh), Irina Petrushova (Kazakhstan), Fesshaye Yohannes (Eritrea)
Jiang Weiping (China), Geoff Nyarota (Zimbabwe), Horacio Verbitsky (Argentina), Mazen Dana (West Bank)
Zeljko Kopanja (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Modeste Mutinga (DRC), Steven Gan (Malaysia), Mashallah Shamsolvaezin (Iran)
Jesús Joel Díaz Hernández (Cuba), Baton Haxhiu (Kosovo), Jugnu Mohsin and Najam Sethi (Pakistan), María Cristina Caballero (Colombia)
Grémah Boucar (Niger), Gustavo Gorriti (Panama), Pavel Sheremet (Belarus), Ruth Simon (Eritrea)
Viktor Ivancic (Croatia), Freedom Neruda (Ivory Coast), Christine Anyanwu (Nigeria). Ying Chan (United States) and Shieh Chung-Liang (Taiwan)
Ocak Isik Yurtçu (Turkey), Daoud Kuttab (Palestinian Authority), J. Jesus Blancornelas (Mexico), Yusuf Jameel (India)