A jailed blogger from Egypt, a murdered journalist from Lebanon, a documentary maker who recorded Israel's removal of settlers from Gaza, a ‘barefoot lawyer’ from China, and a champion of HIV/AIDS victims in Swaziland have all been honoured with a prestigious Freedom of Expression Award from Index on Censorship.

The 7th annual Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards were presented at LSO St Luke's, London, on 14 March by Anna Ford, with a keynote speech from Jung Chang, bestselling author of Mao:The Untold Story and Wild Swans.

Index on Censorship/Hugo Young Award for Journalism 2007

This award, given in memory of Guardian columnist Hugo Young, goes to a journalist who has shown an outstanding commitment to journalistic integrity in defence of freedom of expression.

• Winner: Kareem Amer (Egypt): Kareem Amer is the pseudonym of 22-year old blogger Abdul Kareem Suleiman Amer, who was recently sentenced to four years imprisonment for criticising Islam and President Mubarak.

• Fellow nominees: Jayyab Abu Safia (Gaza): Jayyab has received death threats from Islamic fundamentalists for his work on his phone-in programme on Gaza FM. Trevor Ncube (Zimbabwe): Ncube’s tireless work in continuing to run the only independent newspapers in Zimbabwe while under constant attack has been described as ‘incredibly inspiring’. Carlos Lozano (Colombia): Carlos Lozano is a newspaper editor in Colombia, one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist.

The T.R. Fyvel Book Award 2007

• Winner: Being Arab (Samir Kassir): Samir Kassir was one of Lebanon’s best known journalists and historians. Kassir was a vocal critic of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. He was assassinated in a car bomb attack in Beirut on June 2nd 2005.

Fellow nominees: In the Name of Honour (Mukhtar Mai): In this moving account, Mai allows her readers to look inside a world of ancient tribal justice, poverty and economic and sexual bondage. What is the What (Dave Eggers): The story of Valentino Achak Deng, a refugee of the Sudanese Civil War. In the Country of Men (Hisham Matar): A deeply affecting story of love and betrayal set against the political background of Libya.

The Index on Censorship Film Award 2007

An annual award that honours freedom of expression in film and documentary .

• Winner: Five Days (Dir. Yoav Shamir): With unique access, this film chronicles the Israel Defence Forces as they evacuate 8,000 Jewish settlers from the Gaza strip in five days, to make way for 250,000 Palestinians.

Fellow nominees: Iraq in Fragments (Dir. James Longley): Culled from 300 hours of footage over two years this documentary is expansive and intimate, harrowing and transcendent. Viva Zapatero (Dir. Sabina Guzzatani): When her satirical show was axed for criticising Silvio Berlusconi, Guzzatani boldly confronted the people who made that decision. Bamako (Dir. Abderrahmane Sissako): In this drama, a group of Africans set up court in Bamako to try international financial institutions the World Bank and the IMF.

The Bindman’s Law and Campaigning Award 2007

This award will be presented to campaigning human rights organisations or individual lawyers for their outstanding defence of freedom of expression.

• Winner: Siphiwe Hlophe (Swaziland): In 1999, Siphiwe Hlophe discovered she was HIV positive. As a result, her husband left her and she lost an academic scholarship, but she reacted by co-founding an organisation called Swazis for Positive Living which aims to fight gender discrimination related to HIV/Aids and help other HIV/Aids victims.

Fellow nominees: Yalemzewd Bekele (Ethiopia): Yalemzewd Bekele is a prominent human rights lawyer whose projects focus on civil society and women’s issues. Abdul-Rahman al Lahem (Saudi Arabia): Abdul-Rahman Al-Lahem seeks out high-profile cases that highlight the problems in Shariah law in Saudi Arabia. Stanislav Dmitrievsky and the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society (Russia): A veteran camapigner for human rights under constant threat from legal and illegal state pressure.

Index on Censorship Whistleblower Award 2007

An award for a very particular kind of courage

• Winner: Chen Guangcheng (China): Chen Guangcheng is a self-taught lawyer in the Shandong province of China. He’s known as the ‘barefoot lawyer’, a blind activist who has been hailed as representative of an emerging group of liberal Chinese intellectuals. In 2005, Chen gained international attention for publicising reports of forced abortions and sterilisations.

Fellow nominees: Dr Jawad al Hashemy (Iraq): Dr Jawad Al Hashemy runs the Anti-Corruption Centre and campaigns tirelessly for Freedom of Information in Iraq. Michael De Kort (USA): A former engineer for Lockheed Martin, Michael De Kort exposed faults in the US Coast Guard’s Deepwater programme. Christian Mounzéo (The Republic of Congo): Christian Mounzéo has been the victim of continuing harassment because of his outspoken criticism of government corruption and its mismanagement of oil revenues.

Judges

Professor Conor Gearty: is Rausing Director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights, a practicing barrister and professor of human rights law at the London School of Economics. Mark Kermode: film critic and broadcaster on BBC Radio FiveLive and a regular contributor to BBC2’s Newsnight Review and The Culture Show. He writes for the Observer, and is a contributing editor to Sight and Sound and has authored two volumes for the British Film Institute Modern Classics series. Kenan Malik: writer, lecturer and broadcaster. He is a presenter of Analysis on BBC Radio 4 and Senior Visting Fellow at the Department of Political, International and Policy Studies at the University of Surrey. Ursula Owen OBE: co-founder of Virago Press, she was editor in chief and chief executive of Index on Censorship for 13 years. She was awarded an OBE in 2004 for services to international human rights. Richard Sambrook: is Director of the BBC's Global News division, responsible for leading the BBC's international news services across radio, television and new media. Dreda Say Mitchell: novelist and educationalist; her critically acclaimed first novel, Running Hot, was awarded the CWA’s John Creasey Memorial Dagger for best debut crime novel in 2005.

For more information please contact

Henderson Mullin, Chief Executive, Index on Censorship 0207 278 2313 Henderson@indexoncensorship.org

Or

Lindsay Grist, Grist Communications 07760 161699 lindsay@gristcommunications.com

'Index’s role, which it has sustained admirably over so many years, is to excavate the real facts and expose the truth. Long may it continue!' - Harold Pinter.

Index on Censorship was founded in 1972 by the poet Stephen Spender in response to a plea for help from Soviet dissidents facing show trials in Moscow and was founded on the principle that freedom of expression is a fundamental human right.

The Annual Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards has become a milestone in the human rights calendar. Each year we honour people who have made outstanding contributions, often heroic ones, to the defence of freedom of expression. Awards are given to those who achieved this by making films or writing books, through the law, or their journalism, or for whistleblowing in environments that would deter most of us from the tiniest dissent.

This page was updated on 22nd March, 2007