RI journalists win international awards

RI journalists win international awards

NEW YORK (Reuters): Journalists who have braved harassment and
arrest in Niger, Panama, Indonesia, Belarus and Eritrea were
named on Monday as recipients of International Press Freedom
Awards by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The New York-based CPJ, a nonprofit organization dedicated to
defending press freedom around the world, cited five journalists
for "their courage and independence in reporting the news." The
honors, CPJ's eighth annual International Press Freedom Awards,
will be presented at formal ceremonies and a dinner in New York
on Nov. 24.

The winners are:

* Gremah Boucar, founder of Radio Anfani, Niger's only
private radio station, and publisher of Anfani newspaper and
magazine. CPJ said Boucar had refused to be forced into exile
despite attacks, harassment and arrest for his critical coverage
of the government and its policies.

* Peruvian investigative reporter Gustavo Gorriti of the
newspaper La Prensa in Panama. Gorriti was almost expelled from
Panama last year for reporting on Colombian drug traffickers'
alleged ties to the Panamanian government.

* Goenawan Mohamad, founder and editor of the Indonesian
independent weekly news magazine Tempo. Goenawan reopened Tempo
this month after being silenced in 1994 by former President
Soeharto.

* Pavel Sheremet of Belarus, the Minsk bureau chief of
Russian television station ORT and editor in chief of
Belarusskaya Delovaya Gazeta. Sheremet has been arrested,
imprisoned and denied the right to report and travel freely in
Belarus, CPJ said.

* Ruth Simon, a correspondent with the French news service
Agence France-Presse who has been under arrest and held in
detention without trial in Eritrea since April 25, 1997. Simon
reported statements by Eritrea's President Isayas Afewerki that
Eritrean troops were fighting alongside rebel forces in
neighboring Sudan. Eritrea has accused Simon of reporting false
information regarding Eritrea's role in Sudan's civil war.

"These journalists put their freedom and their lives on the
line to report the news," Gene Roberts, chairman of CPJ's board
of directors, said in a statement. "It is our firm belief that by
drawing attention to their courageous acts, we can help thwart
the enemies of a free press who would silence their voices."

Meanwhile, Achmad Ibrahim, an Indonesian photographer for AP
was awarded the prestigious Bayeux Prize for War Correspondents
over the weekend for his coverage of riots that swept Jakarta in
May.

The AP Jakarta bureau said on Monday that Ibrahim, 23, had
worked for AP for only two weeks when he was thrust into the
frontline of the chaos that led to the resignation of
authoritarian president Soeharto.

Ibrahim, a former accountant who was born in Jakarta, was part
of AP's team of photographers covering the trouble. The team also
included his father Muchtar Zakaria, who has been with the news
agency for 11 years.

Ibrahim said on Monday that he left accountancy and got into
photography "to help my father".

"Before that I used to take pictures just as a hobby," he
added.

Organizers of the Bayeux prize said he will receive a prize of
50,000 French francs (US$9,090) plus a trophy for his
achievements. The U.S.-base Rutherford Institute recently awarded
Ibrahim the $400 second prize in their Human Rights Awards.

This is the fifth year the annual prize has been awarded. It
was set up as "an homage to freedom and democracy" to reward
journalists for their coverage of a conflict or its consequences
for civilians.

"His images powerfully illustrate the enormity of change that
was taking place on the streets," said AP Jakarta's bureau chief
Geoff Spencer.