Zimbabwe’s banned Daily News and a journalist jailed for publishing cartoons of the King of Morocco are among the winners of the annual media awards made by press freedom campaign group Reporters Without Borders.
RWB said the Daily News was the media that “best exemplifies the struggle for the freedom of expression and the right to be informed”. It noted that the newspaper has faced systematic harassment and bans by the government of Robert Mugabe.
The prize for the journalist who best demonstrated their commitment to freedom of expression went to Moroccan journalist Ali Lmrabet. He was jailed for three years, chiefly for publishing cartoons critical of King Mohammed VI.
Lmrabet resumed a hunger strike on 30 November, following a 50-day fast in the spring that has left him in a fragile state of health.
The prize for defending press freedom went to Michèle Montas, former director of Radio Haïti Inter, who has devoted herself to the fight against impunity since the murder of her husband, journalist Jean Dominique, in April 2000. She was forced to close the radio station and then leave the country after she too was a victim of an attack last Christmas.
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