The International Press Institute (IPI) has named the jailed Syrian human rights defender, Mazen Darwish, as its 67th world press freedom hero.
The lawyer, who is president of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), has spoken up for media freedom in his country for more than 10 years. He has spent the last three of those in prison.
The hero award is given to journalists who have made significant contributions to the promotion of press freedom, particularly in the face of great personal risk.
IPI’s interim executive director, Barbara Trionfi, spoke of Darwish’s courage and his display of “remarkable bravery” in trying to ensure that people learned the truth of what was happening in Syria after the conflict erupted in 2011.
She also referred to “his willingness to continue speaking out in support of free media from prison, despite the obvious danger to him in doing so”.
Trionfi said: “We hope this award serves to focus a spotlight not only on his continued, unjust imprisonment, but on the plight that all journalists in Syria and the region face as they strive to keep their communities and the world informed”.
Darwish echoed those comments in a message from prison conveyed to IPI by his journalist wife, Yara Badr.
“I was honoured and moved to hear about the award,” he said. “I thank all those who participated in bestowing this honour to me and I feel that this citation belongs to all those journalists in the Arab world who have worked hard and sacrificed to make journalism a more professional and more independent profession”.
Darwish founded the SCM in 2004 to protect media freedom and support journalists’ rights. The group reported on free speech violations and publicised the disappearances of bloggers and journalists while advocating legal reforms.
Darwish also served as editor of Mashed al-Suri (syriaview.net), an independent news website operated by SCM until it was blocked by Syria’s authorities in 2006.
Early in 2008, Darwish was sentenced to 10 days in jail after being arrested while covering riots in the suburbs of Damascus. Following the outbreak of the current Syrian conflict in 2011, he was a major source of information for foreign media until February 2012, when Syrian air force intelligence raided SCM’s office and detained Darwish and 15 others.
Darwish was held separately from his colleagues and is believed to have endured ill-treatment and possibly torture.
In August 2012, it was reported that he was to be tried in secret by a military court, and the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists expressed concern that he could face the death penalty without any right to defence, appeal or review.
Despite the Syrian government’s June 2014 announcement that political prisoners would be granted amnesty, Darwish, who reportedly has been convicted of no charge, remains in prison.
Source: IPI
