The 15th Reporters Without Borders - Fondation de France prize was presented in Paris on Tuesday, 12 December 2006

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=20098

International | 12.12.2006
The 15th Reporters Without Borders - Fondation de France prize was
presented in Paris on Tuesday, 12 December 2006


The 15th Reporters Without Borders - Fondation de France prize was
awarded to a journalist, a media, a press freedom defender and a
cyber-dissident. The 2006 laureates are:

  U WIN TIN (Burma) in the "Journalist" category
  NOVAYA GAZETA (Russia) in the "Media" category
  JOURNALISTE EN DANGER (Democratic Republic of Congo) in the
"Defender of press freedom" category
  GUILLERMO FARINAS HERNANDEZ (Cuba) in the "Cyberdissident" category

The 15th Reporters Without Borders - Fondation de France 2006 prize is
awarded to:

THE JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR who, through their work, attitude or
principled stands demonstrated a strong commitment to press freedom.
The laureate is 76-year-old Burmese journalist U Win Tin, who was
sentenced to 20 years in prison for "subversion" and "anti-government
propaganda" in 1989. After more than 17 years in prison and despite
faltering health, the country's most renowned journalist will not give
way. In his special cell at Insein jail, near Rangoon, Saya, "The
Sage", as his comrades call him, refuses to renounce his commitment to
the National League for Democracy, robbed by the military junta of a
landslide electoral victory in 1990. He continues to call for the
unconditional release of thousands of prisoners of opinion held in the
country's prisons., U Win Tin was one of the political mentors of
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, also deprived of her
freedom. U Win Tin, who has been weakened by a urinary infection and
two heart attacks, is only allowed two visits per month.
The other 2006 nominees in this category were Dawit Isaac (Eritrea)
and Hollman Felipe Morris (Colombia).
Learn more on Win Tin and the nominees -
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=20099


A MEDIA which exemplifies the struggle for the right to inform the
public and to be informed.
The prize goes to Russian bi-weekly Novaya Gazeta, the newspaper for
which Anna Politkovskaya was working when she was murdered in Moscow
on 7 October 2006. Novaya Gazeta carries out investigations regularly
exposing corruption in the Russian administration. Also highly
critical of government policy, the newspaper carried numerous reports
by Anna Politkovskaya on Chechnya, but also on developments in Russian
society. The founders of the "New Newspaper" set themselves the
objective of being independent and of extending its circulation
throughout Russia.
The other 2006 nominees in this category were the Democratic Voice of
Burma (Burma), Uthayan (Sri Lanka) and An-Nahar (Lebanon).
Learn more on Novaia Gazeta and the nominees -
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=20126


A DEFENDER of press freedom
The prize is awarded to the organisation "Journalist in danger" (JED),
based in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Founded in 1997
by journalists Donat M'Baya Tshimanga and Tshivis Tshivuadi, JED is
one of Africa's most active and respected press freedom
organisations., JED is particularly combative when it comes to
reminding easily corrupted journalists of their duty. It is also in
the vanguard of the struggle to get the government to reform unfair
and illiberal legislation under which journalists are regularly sent
to the capital's Penitentiary and Re-education centre in the capital.
The other 2006 nominees in this category were the Centre for
Journalism and Public Ethics (CEPET, Mexico), Tadjigoul Begmedova
(Turkmenistan) and Anwar al-Bunni (Syria).
Learn more on JED and the nominees -
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=20111


A CYBER-DISSIDENT prevented from informing the public online
The prize is awarded to Guillermo Fariñas Hernández (Cuba), head of
the independent news agency Cubanacán Press. In February 2006, he
began a hunger and thirst strike to demand access to a "free Internet"
for all Cubans. The authorities forcibly hospitalised him and put him
on a drip to bring his protest to an end, a step which led to even
greater international media interest., Guillermo Fariñas has said he
is ready to die so that his compatriots can finally have the right to
be informed. He has been in intensive care since 20 August because of
kidney and heart problems. The authorities did offer to allow him
"limited" access to the Internet, but he refused, explaining that he
could not honourably exercise his profession as a journalist by only
looking at news that had been filtered by the government. He is
continuing his work at Cubanacán and has become one of the leading
voices among Cuban opposition journalists.
The other 2006 nominees in this category were Habib Saleh (Syria) and
Yang Zili (China).
Learn more on Guillermo Fariñas Hernández (Cuba) and the nominees -
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=20125

Reporters Without Borders pays tribute to Gebran Tuweni

Gebran Tuweni, publisher of the daily An-Nahar, was murdered in a car
bombing in Beirut on 12 December 2005. He was the third journalist -
after Samir Kassir and May Shidiac - to be targeted during 2005. The
investigation into his death has now stalled, because of political
obstacles and violence which continues to rock the country.
Dancer Yalda Younes will perform at the ceremony in tribute to this
major Lebanese press figure in the play NO, written by Zad Moultaka in
honour of the Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir, created in Beirut on 2
June 2006, to mark the first anniversary of his murder.


The Reporters Without Borders - Fondation de France prize has been
awarded since 1992

In honouring a journalist, a media, a press freedom defender and a
cyber-dissident, Reporters Without Borders and the Fondation de France
draws the attention of public opinion to the wide range of attacks on
the right to inform the public and to be informed and for the need to
actively support press freedom.

Each prize is worth €2, 500.

Since it was set up, the Reporters Withotu Borders - Fondation de
France prize has been awarded to Zlatko Dizdarevic (Bosnia-Herzegovina
- 1992), Wang Juntao (China - 1993), André Sibomana (Rwanda - 1994),
Christina Anyanwu (Nigeria - 1995), Isik Yurtçu (Turkey - 1996), Raúl
Rivero (Cuba - 1997), Nizar Nayyuf (Syria - 1998), San San Nweh (Burma
- 1999), Carmen Gurruchaga (Spain - 2000), Reza Alijani (Iran - 2001),
Grigory Pasko (Russia - 2002), Ali Lmrabet (Morocco - 2003), Hafnawi
Ghoul (Algeria- 2004), Zhao Yan (China - 2005).
Several winners have been released just a few weeks or months after
receiving their prize. Among them was the Moroccan journalist Ali
Lmrabet, awarded the prize on 10 December 2003 and freed on 7 January
2004, Russian journalist Grigory Pasko, laureate in December 2002 and
released in January 2003, Burmese journalist San San Nweh, a
prize-winner in December 1999 and released in 2001.

The Reporters Without Borders - Fondation de France prize is awarded
by an international jury made up of the 35 following members:

Ekram Shinwari (Afghanistan), Rubina Möhring (Austria), Nayeem Islam
Khan (Bangladesh), Zhanna Litvina (Belarus), Olivier Basille
(Belgium), Colette Braeckman (Belgium), Sebastião Salgado (Brazil ),
Maung Maung Myint (Burma), François Bugingo (Canada), Carlos Cortes
Castillo (Colombia), Miriam Leiva (Cuba), Donat M'Baya Tshimanga
(Democratic Republic of Congo), Domenico Amha-Tsion (Eritrea), Francis
Charhon (France), Laurent Joffrin (France), Elise Lucet (France),
Pierre Veilletet (France), Sabine Christiansen (Germany), Michael
Rediske (Germany), Mimmo Candito (Italy), Sailab Mahsud (Pakistan),
Ricardo Uceda (Peru), Michel Kik (Qatar), Mircea Toma (Romania),
Alexey Simonov (Russia), Omar Faruk Osman (Somalia) Fernando Castelló
(Spain), Maria Dolores Masana Argüelles (Spain), Vicente Verdu
(Spain), Eva Elmsater (Sweden), George Gordon-Lennox (Switzerland),
Gérald Sapey (Switzerland), Sihem Bensedrine (Tunisia) Ethan Zuckerman
(United States).

Photos free of copyright can be downloaded: clik here
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=20102


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