Freedom of the press and opinion

Raif Badawi Award for courageous journalists 2017 & 2018

The fate of Saudi blogger and editor Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment and 1,000 lashes for “insulting Islam”, has been
an issue close to our hearts for years. Since 2016, the Foundation, together with Badawi’s wife Ensaf Haidar, has therefore awarded the annual
Raif Badawi Award for courageous journalists at the Frankfurter Buchmesse.

In 2017 the focus was on Turkey, where freedom of expression and freedom of the press have been weakened dramatically since the failed coup in
the summer of 2016. The panel of independent judges selected the Turkish investigative journalist Ahmet Şık on the grounds of his exceptional
importance to the freedom of the Turkish press and as a representative of all journalists imprisoned in Turkey. Ahmet Şık was himself imprisoned
at the time the award was bestowed.

Raif Badawi’s wife Ensaf Haidar presented Can Atalay, human rights activist and Şık’s lawyer, with the award in the latter’s stead. “Ahmet Şık’s
bravery makes me very proud. He shares Raif’s fate. Both are in jail because they say what they think,” said Haidar.

In 2018, the award was given to “Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism” (ARIJ), a Jordan-based independent network of journalists, and
received by the network’s founder and director, Rana Sabbagh. ARIJ was the first regional media organisation committed to promoting investigative
journalism in Arabic newsrooms.

The network supports journalists and their research into sensitive subjects in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia
and Yemen. A commitment to universal human rights is a matter of common values “for which we should find the courage to stand up – as
Raif Badawi, his sister Samar Badawi and ARIJ show us daily,” emphasised Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, former Federal Minister of
Justice and Vice Chairperson of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, at the award ceremony at the Frankfurter Buchmesse.

In 2018, the award was given to “Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism” (ARIJ), a Jordan-based independent network of journalists, and
received by the network’s founder and director, Rana Sabbagh. ARIJ was the first regional media organisation committed to promoting investigative
journalism in Arabic newsrooms.The network supports journalists and their research into sensitive subjects in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen.

A commitment to universal human rights is a matter of common values “for which we should find the courage to stand up – as
Raif Badawi, his sister Samar Badawi and ARIJ show us daily,” emphasised Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, former Federal Minister of
Justice and Vice Chairperson of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, at the award ceremony at the Frankfurter Buchmesse.