19 December 2003
RSF HONOURS PRESS-FREEDOM AWARD WINNERS
Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) has awarded the 2003 RSF-Fondation de France Prize to an exiled Haitian journalist, a crusading independent Zimbabwean newspaper and a Moroccan journalist on hunger strike for their contributions to the defense of free expression.
Michèle Montas, the former director of Radio Haiti Inter, has been in exile since December 2002, when assailants tried to enter her home in an apparent assassination attempt and killed one of her bodyguards. She was forced to close Radio Haiti Inter and flee the country. Montas has also been fighting to end the impunity surrounding the murder of her husband, Jean Dominique. A journalist himself, Dominique was assassinated in 2000 in reprisal for his frequent criticisms of political leaders.
"The Daily News," Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, exemplifies best the struggle for freedom of expression and the right to be informed, RSF says. A critic of President Robert Mugabe and his government, the newspaper has endured constant legal harassment. It was forced to close in September 2003 and taken to court for violating a press law many press-freedom groups say is draconian.
Moroccan journalist Ali Lmrabet is serving a three-year jail sentence, in part for publishing cartoons critical of King Mohammed VI. He resumed a hunger strike on 30 November after waging a 50-day fast earlier this year which left him in a frail state, RSF says.
The RSF-Fondation de France Prize is awarded each year to a journalist, media outlet and press-freedom defender whose experiences best exemplify the state of press freedom in their country. Each award is worth 2,500 Euros (approx. US$3,100).
More information about the award winners is available here: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=8759
(Image: © RSF)
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