Funferal

Press freedom awards for persecuted journalists

A Guatemalan journalist in hiding for his human rights reporting and a Chinese journalist imprisoned for writing on the Internet have been named winners of the CJFE International Press Freedom Awards, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression announced today. CJFE also awarded its Tara Singh Hayer Memorial Award to Canadian photo-journalist Zahra Kazemi, who was murdered earlier this year in an Iranian prison. (via IFEX Communique)

Luis Alberto Perez Barillas and Xu Wei are being recognised for exceptional courage in the face of enormous odds in producing the news. They will be honoured on 6 November at CJFE’s annual International Press Freedom Awards dinner in Toronto.
Barillas went into hiding in July 2003 after enduring physical attacks and death threats for his reporting. A producer of a daily news program for Radio San Pablo in Rabinal, Barillas investigates and reports on the alleged role of government officials in human rights atrocities committed in Guatemala, including massacres carried out during the 1982-83 dictatorship of General Efraín Rios Montt, says CJFE. Barillas is also a correspondent for Guatemala’s highest circulation national daily newspaper, “Prensa Libre.”
Xu Wei is serving a ten-year prison sentence for participating in the Xin Qingnian Xuehui (New Youth Study Group), an informal group who explored topics related to political and social reform and used the Internet to circulate articles advocating social change, CJFE says. He was arrested on 13 March 2001 and sentenced on 28 May 2003 for attempting to “overthrow the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership and the socialist system and subvert the regime of the people’s democratic leadership.” Xu was also fired from his post as a reporter for “Xiaofei Ribao” (Consumer Daily).
Kazemi was detained in Tehran, Iran, on 23 June while photographing outside a prison notorious for its poor treatment of detainees. While in captivity, she suffered head injuries and died on 10 July. Iranian authorities at first said she suffered a stroke, then later admitted she was injured at the hands of her interrogator, CJFE says. An employee of Iranian national security is on trial in the case. Stephan Hachemi, Zahra’s son, will accept the award on his mother’s behalf.