Raif Badawi Award 2017 goes to Ahmet Şık

Press release: Awarding of the 2017 Raif Badawi Award to Ahmet Şık

Turkish investigative journalist Ahmet Şık is this year’s winner of the Raif Badawi Award for courageous journalists. Şık writes for “Cumhuriyet”, a leading Turkish daily newspaper critical of the government, as well as other publications; his book “The Imam’s Army”, on the life and work of Fethullah Gülen and his Gülen movement, has been referred to as “the most dangerous book in Turkey”. In 2011, before the book had even been published, he was arrested on suspicion of belonging to the alleged putschist movement “Ergenekon”. Şık was released in 2012, but was rearrested and has been incarcerated since 29 December 2016. He is accused of spreading terrorist propaganda and insulting state organs in his tweets and articles. 

The unendowed journalism prize is awarded by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. Şık’s lawyer, Can Atalay, will accept the prize on his behalf.

Date: Wednesday, 11 October 2017, 2.00pm
Venue: Frankfurt Bookfair, Forum Börsenverein, Hall 3.1 H 85

Programme:
1.45pm Opportunity for press photos (at Café Börsenverein)

2.00pm
Welcome
Alexander Skipis, CEO of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association

Tributes
Gerhart R. Baum, former Federal Interior Minister of Germany
Ahmad Mansour, expert on Islamism and author

2.25pm
Conferring of the award by Ensaf Haidar, wife of Raif Badawi, on Ahmet Şık, represented by Can Atalay, human rights activist and Ahmet Şık’s lawyer

Acceptance speech by Can Atalay

Discussion with Ensaf Haidar, Can Atalay and Gerhart R. Baum, moderated by Constantin Schreiber, journalist

The event will be held in German and will be streamed live on Facebook: www.fb.com/rbadawiaward/ 
The discussion will be consecutively interpreted from Turkish/Arabic into German.

To attend this event, you need an accreditation for the Frankfurt Bookfair: http://www.buchmesse.de/en/fbf/press/accreditation/

This journalism award was initiated by Badawi’s wife, Ensaf Haidar, and the journalist Constantin Schreiber. It is intended to raise awareness for the imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and ten years’ imprisonment by Saudi Arabia’s government. The award is supported by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association. For more information about the award, visit our website at www.freiheit.org/raifbadawiaward.

Pressekontakt/Press contact: Doris Bergmann, Pressereferentin der Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit, presse@freiheit.org, Tel. 030 28 87 78 54, Mobil: 0151 12 65 63 91, www.freiheit.org