Shahidul Alam wins CPJ’s Int’l Press Freedom Award

Prominent Bangladeshi photojournalist Shahidul Alam has been awarded the 2020 International Press Freedom Award alongside three others from Iran, Nigeria and Russia.

The awardees were announced by the Committee to Protect Journalists. "All four have been arrested or faced criminal prosecution in reprisal for their reporting," said a report on the committee's website.

Alam is a renowned photojournalist and founder of Pathshala Media Institute and Drik picture library.

In August 2018, Alam was detained after posting a video to social media about student protests in Dhaka. He spent 102 days behind bars, and said he was beaten in custody, before being freed in November 2018.

The other awardees are: Mohammad Mosaed (Iran), a freelance economic reporter; Dapo Olorunyomi (Nigeria), co-founder, CEO and publisher of the Nigerian newspaper Premium Times, and Svetlana Prokopyeva (Russia), a regional correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

CPJ will also honour lawyer Amal Clooney with the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award.

"Like brave and committed journalists everywhere, CPJ's honourees set out to report the news without fear or favor for the benefit of their communities, their country, and the world," Joel Simon, CPJ executive director, said in the statement.

"The global pandemic has not only made their jobs more difficult and dangerous, it has fueled a ferocious press freedom crackdown as autocratic leaders around the world suppress unwelcome news under the guise of protecting public health," he added.

The winners will be honoured on November 19, 2020, at CPJ's annual benefit gala.

Due to health and safety restrictions, this year's gala will be virtual.