Shahidul Alam, three others named for CPJ Int’l Press Freedom Awards

The Committee to Protect Journalists has named Bangladeshi photojournalist Shahidul Alam and three others from Iran, Nigeria, and Russia for the 2020 International Press Freedom Awards, reports UNB.

“All four have been arrested or faced criminal prosecution in reprisal for their reporting,” said a report on the website of CPJ.

The three other journalists are Mohammad Mosaed from Iran, Dapo Olorunyomi from Nigeria while Svetlana Prokopyeva from Russia.

CPJ will also honour lawyer Amal Clooney with the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award.

Joel Simon, CPJ executive director, said, “Like brave and committed journalists everywhere, CPJ’s honourees set out to report the news without fear or favour for the benefit of their communities, their country, and the world.”

“The global pandemic has not only made their jobs more difficult and dangerous, it has fuelled a ferocious press freedom crackdown as autocratic leaders around the world suppress unwelcome news under the guise of protecting public health,” he added.

The winners will be honoured on 9 November, 2020, at CPJ’s annual benefit gala, to be chaired this year by Patrick Gaspard, president of Open Society Foundations, and hosted by veteran broadcast journalist Lester Holt.

Due to health and safety restrictions related to COVID-19, this year’s gala will be virtual, with video profiles, compelling press freedom stories, award presentations, and acceptance speeches streamed online and shared around the world.

Shahidul Alam is a renowned photojournalist and commenter, and the founder of the Bangladeshi multimedia training organisation the Pathshala Media Institute and the Drik photo library.

In August 2018, Alam was detained after posting a video to social media about student protests in Dhaka.

He spent 102 days behind bars, and said he was beaten in custody, before being freed in November 2018.