Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009international press freedom awardscpj international press freedom awardsSince 1991, CPJ has honored journalists from around the world with its annualInternational Press Freedom Awards. Recipients have shown extraordinarycourage in the face of great risks, standing up to tyrants and documenting eventsin dark corners of the world. Here are the 2009 awardees:Mustafa Haji Abdinur, SomaliaMustafa Haji Abdinur is amongthe very small number of independentjournalists still workingamid devastating violence inMogadishu. In 2009 alone, nineSomali journalists were murderedor killed in crossfire.As a correspondent for AgenceFrance-Presse and editor-in-chiefof the independent radio stationRadio Simba, Abdinur faces dangerevery day. He reports fromRadio SimbaMogadishu’s once-bustling BakaraMarket, which has become astronghold of insurgents in the conflict-ridden city.In 2007, with the help of a business partner, Abdinur started Radio Simba,which reaches more than 2 million listeners across southern and central Somalia.His work for AFP and several other Western media outlets has made him a targetof both insurgents and government authorities. He was beaten by insurgents afterassisting two Japanese journalists with the Kyoto News Agency, and arrestedby government security forces for airing an interview with a leader of the militantgroup Al-Shabaab. Despite receiving death threats that prompted his family torelocate, Abdinur has insisted on staying in Mogadishu to report on the unfoldingSomali crisis.Eynulla Fatullayev, AzerbaijanWhen Eynulla Fatullayev’s friend and colleague Elmar Huseynov was murdered,the journalist set out to find the killer. He ended up in jail after his reporting raisedthe possibility of a government cover-up.Fatullayev was working as an investigativereporter for the Monitor magazine in 2005,when Huseynov, the editor, was assassinated.Two years later, Fatullayev produced an indeptharticle that charged Azerbaijani authoritieswith ignoring evidence in the murder andobstructing the investigation. The piece, “Leadand Roses,” alleged that Huseynov’s murderwas ordered by high-ranking officials in Bakuand carried out by a criminal group. The articlewas published in Realny Azerbaijan, a newspaperFatullayev founded after the murder.Within days, Fatullayev began receivingdeath threats. Within months, he was convictedon charges of libeling Azerbaijanis in an InternetIRFSposting that was falsely attributed to him. Hisnewspaper’s offices were then raided and closed.More criminal charges followed, including a “terrorism” count apparently based onhis published analysis of Azerbaijan’s policies toward Iran. He was convicted on anumber of baseless charges and sentenced to an eight-year prison term.OLPECNaziha Réjiba, TunisiaNaziha Réjiba, one of Tunisia’s most criticaljournalists, is editor of the independent onlinenews journal Kalima—which is blocked in herown country. Réjiba, also known as Um Ziad,has been the target of continual governmentintimidation and harassment: Her home is underconstant surveillance, her phones lines aremonitored, and she has been summoned forrepeated police interrogations.Réjiba co-founded Kalima in 2000 withprominent journalist Sihem Bensedrine, herselfa frequent government target. A year later, thetwo founded the press freedom group Observatoirede la Liberté de la Presse, de L’Edition etde la Création (OLPEC). Both Kalima, which346347