By: Staff Reports Chandler Gets Lifetime Achievement Award
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) named four journalists as this year's recipients of the International Press Freedom Awards.
These year's winners are Zelko Kopanja, co-founder and editor of Nezavisne Novine in Bosnia-Herzegovina; Modeste Mutinga, publisher of Le Potentiel in the Democratic Republic of Congo; Steven Gan, editor of the Web site Malaysiakini; and Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, editor of several banned Iranian dailies.
As editor of Nezavisne Novine, Kopanja published articles that documented killings of Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian Serb authorities during the 1992-1995 war. As a result, Kopanja was targeted with a car-bomb assassination attempt outside his home in October 1999. Kopanja lost both his legs in the incident.
Mutinga has continued to publish critical stories on Congo's President Laurent Kabila in Le Potentiel. The publisher has been repeatedly jailed and has refused to reveal sources.
Gan continues to test Malaysia's press freedoms by publishing online stories that would not appear in the country's mainstream print press.
Shamsolvaezin has been in jail since April after being sentenced to 30 months in jail for publishing an article critical of capital punishment in Iran. For allegedly insulting Islamic principles, he is serving his term in Teheran's Evin Prison.
The 10th Annual Press Freedom Awards will be presented at a formal dinner ceremony in New York City on Tuesday, Nov. 21. CPJ also will honor Otis Chandler, former publisher of the Los Angeles Times, with the Burton Benjamin Memorial Award for lifetime achievement in press freedom.
Copyright 2000, Editor & Publisher.
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