Saturday, December 11, 2010

Iranian Journalist Wins Press Freedom Award

The Paris-based media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders has awarded its 2010 Press Freedom Prize to two “symbols of courage,” jailed Iranian journalist Abdolreza Tajik and the Somali radio station Radio Shabelle.

“This year we are honoring a courageous journalist, Abdolreza Tajik, and a beleaguered radio station, Radio Shabelle,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard said. “These laureates work into two countries, Iran and Somalia, where reporting the news is a constant battle.”

The awards were presented at a ceremony in Paris on Thursday night. The prize recipients are chosen by an international jury of journalists and human rights activists based on significant contributions made to the defense and promotion of press freedom around the globe. Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi accepted Tajik’s prize on his behalf.

“I regret that Abdolreza is not here to receive this award in person. His only crime has been to write, to write the truth. For doing that, he is being held in solitary confinement in Evin prison, without his lawyer being able to see him or have access to his case file,” Ebadi said after accepting the prize.

Abdolreza Tajik has written for a number of newspapers including Fath, Bonyan, Bahar, Hambastegi and Shargh.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Iran announced to leave its embassy doors open in London for students running from the Police / Monarchists crack down

lol, I love this game

Dariush London

Anonymous said...

FM Mottaki forgot to mention that beating, imprisoning, and torturing of Iranian students are OK (if done by the IRI). His worries are reserved for British students in the UK.


http://www.presstv.ir/detail/155011.html

Iran slams UK crackdown on students

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki urges the UK government to show self-restraint in dealing with protesters, objecting to education reform plans.


Mottaki "advised the British government to practice self-restraint in the face of public demands and to observe human dignity," a Foreign Ministry statement said on Saturday.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is diligently monitoring the developments in Britain and regrets the fact that the battering of [UK] students…coincided with the International Human Rights Day," the statement quoted Mottaki as saying.

Anonymous said...

This kind of game is anything but new, Anon.

I remember back in '68, the US deplored the Soviet's use of excessive force employed against Czech protesters in 1968. Meanwhile, the US was cracking heads against its own protesters at the Democratic convention in Chicago, as well as numerous college campuses across the country.

Glass houses.

One thing's for certain: Iranian students aren't protesting against the free public university educations they're entitled to upon qualifying, which is considered a human right in Iran.

Anonymous said...

Now the UK embassy in Tehran is begining to behave like the Ghajar times and telling Iran how to behave.

Stop the relations for Gods sake and let the bloody dice role.

Dariush London