On 4 June 2024, the Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon and the Samir Kassir Foundation announced the results of the 19^th edition of the Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press, in a ceremony held at the Sursock Palace Gardens, in Beirut. This Award, established and funded by the European Union, is recognized internationally as a flagship prize for press freedom and the most prestigious journalism award in the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf region. Since 2006, the Award ceremony has been held annually to commemorate the anniversary of Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir’s assassination on 2 June 2005 in Beirut, and celebrate his life, his values, and his memory.

 

The Samir Kassir Award is open to professional journalists from eighteen countries of North Africa, the Middle East, and the Gulf. This year, a record 354 journalists participated in the competition, hailing from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen. 114 candidates competed in the Opinion Piece category, 161 in the Investigative Article category, and 79 in the Audiovisual News Report category. The winner in each of the three categories is awarded a prize of €10,000. Each of the short-listed finalists per category receive a €1,000 prize.

 

The winners of the 2024 Samir Kassir Award are:

 

- Opinion Piece category: Abdelrahman ElGendy (born in 1995), from Egypt, for his article entitled “Is There Life Before Death?” published on 2 January 2024 in Al Manassa. This article echoes the struggle of expatriates of Arab origins in the West as they advocate for human rights and defend the values they hold dear, squeezed, as per the author, between the oppression of autocratic regimes at home and the racism they encounter in exile.

 

- Investigative Article category: Hadeel Arja (born in 1985), from Syria, for her investigation entitled “The Shocking Practice of Forced Puberty in Northern Syria’s Camps” published on 15 March 2024 in Daraj Media and Tiny Hands. This report sheds light on one of the most under-reported abuses that girls face in internally displaced people’s camps in Northern Syria: the administration of hormones to speed up menstruation and forced marriages.

 

- Audio-visual News Report category: Aseel Sariah (born in 1983), from Yemen, for his report entitled “Encroachment on Historic Sites” aired on Yemen Today, with support from Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) on 9 August 2023. The report focuses on illegal encroachment on historic religious sites belonging to different minority denominations in the Yemeni city of Aden.

 

The Ambassador of the European Union to Lebanon, Sandra De Waele, said: “The European Union established the Samir Kassir Award to honour his life and what he stood for, and to remind ourselves that he paid the ultimate price for doing his job. Far too many journalists have lost their lives on the job or for simply expressing themselves. On this occasion, allow me to pay tribute to the brave men and women that were killed or injured in recent months, to bring us news from Gaza or southern Lebanon. We can never say this enough. Journalists are not a target.”

 

Malek Mrowa, Acting President of the Samir Kassir Foundation, emphasized that the Samir Kassir Award brings together some of the brightest young men and women of the region “proving their outstanding maturity and awareness, paving the way for a future of tolerance” in spite of the unfolding tragedy that journalists are facing in the region, in Palestine in particular, and the shattered dream of democracy and human rights more globally. Mr. Mrowa paid tribute to the Foundation’s late president, journalist Gisèle Khoury, who chose culture, knowledge, and freedom to fight darkness, ignorance, and repression.

 

An independent seven-member jury from the Arab League and European Union member states selected the winners. This year’s jury gathered Rima Abdul Malak (France), former Minister of Culture; Iason Athanasiadis (Greece), award winning author and documentary filmmaker; Abdullah Baabood (Oman), visiting professor at the Faculty of International Research and Education, Waseda University in Tokyo; Lars Boering (Netherlands), Director of the European Journalism Centre; Taghreed El Khodary (Palestine), media consultant, producer, and trainer; Rana Khoury (Lebanon), Director of the Agency for Equality and Samir Kassir Foundation’s representative in the jury; and Bayan Al Tall (Jordan), former Director General of Jordan Radio and TV Corporation.

 

For the fifth time, the Award included the Students’ Prize, which allowed 11 students from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Syria to get prior access to the finalists’ submissions, interact virtually with them, and debate the issues that were highlighted in the articles and reports. Students voted for their favorite submission following the debate and selected Mohammed Abu Shahma, born in 1988, from Palestine for the investigative article entitled “Middlemen Push Up Prices as Gazans Struggle to Survive.” This report uncovers the monopolistic practices that are contributing to the scarcity of basic goods in the Gaza Strip amid the war ongoing since 7 October 2023.

 

The ceremony was broadcast live on the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (LBCI). It was hosted by journalist Carolina Nassar, a colleague of SKF’s late president Gisèle Khoury on Sky News Arabia, and was viewed by thousands of people across the region on LBCI’s local network, satellite channel worldwide and online on the Award’s social media accounts.

Samir Kassir was born on May 4, 1960, to a Lebanese-Palestinian father and a Lebanese-Syrian mother. He grew up in the Ashrafieh neighborhood of Beirut and studied at the Lycée Français. In 1981, six years after the beginning of the Lebanese war, he moved to Paris to pursue his higher studies. In 1984, he received his Master's degree in political philosophy from the Sorbonne (Université Paris I) and 1990, his PhD in contemporary history from Université Paris IV.

During the years he spent in Paris, he published a number of articles in the Al-Hayat and L'Orient-Le Jour newspapers. He also wrote for Le Monde Diplomatique and had regular contributions to The Seventh Day and the French edition of the Journal of Palestinian Studies.

In 1992, in collaboration with his friend, the Syrian historian and publisher Farouk Mardam Bey, he published "Itineraries from Paris to Jerusalem", a French book in two volumes, describing the French policy in the Arab Levant, especially in regards to the Palestinian Nakba and the Arab-Israeli conflict. A year after, he returned to Beirut to teach at Université Saint-Joseph's political science institute and join the An-Nahar newspaper as an op-ed writer and the director of the paper's publishing house.

In 1994, Samir published his second book in French "The Lebanon War", based on his doctoral thesis, and analyzing the dynamics of the conflict as well as the intricate relations of internal and foreign factors during the 1975-1982 period. This book was translated to Arabic in 2008.

In 1995, Samir starts a monthly magazine "L'Orient-Express", which rapidly became the most prestigious cultural periodical in Lebanon. The publication was interrupted in 1998 for financial reasons. In parallel, he founded "Al-Layali", a publication house that released several books of articles initially published in "L'Orient-Express", as well as catalogues of old colonial advertisements for Mediterranean cities and Egyptian movies from the 1960s and 1970s.

Samir Kassir's articles and op-eds in An-Nahar in the late 1990s and early 2000s are still viewed as the boldest writings against the Syrian hegemony in Lebanon, the rule of former President Emile Lahoud, and the political role of security apparatuses. These articles pushed General Jamil Sayed, the former director general of the General Security, to threaten Kassir, get him chased, and confiscate his passport at the Beirut International Airport in April 2001, before returning it to him after the subsequent political and cultural outcry.

In 2003, Samir published his third book in French "History of Beirut" (translated to Arabic in 2007 and to English – titled "Beirut" – in 2011). The book describes the capital's history, families, culture, economy, as well as its urban and social development, and its relations with other Lebanese regions, Arab and Mediterranean cities. After his book, a cornerstone of his intellectual life, Samir published in 2004 two books in Arabic: "Democracy in Syria and Lebanon's Independence" and "Askar Ala Meen", comprised of a series of Articles he had published in An-Nahar. The first book focused on the link between the democratic transition in Syria and Lebanon's independence, while the second highlighted the contradiction between the principles of liberty and republican values on the one hand, and the political role of security apparatuses on the other.

Samir published another book in French "Considérations sur le malheur arabe" (English title: "Being Arab"), which was later translated to a dozen languages. The book analyses the reasons for the aborted Arab renaissance in the late 19th century, refutes the simplistic assessments condemning Arabs to an eternal decline, and points out to the geographical, rather than historical, reasons for Arab populations' current misfortune.

In the beginning of 2003, Samir Kassir played a role in the foundation of the Democratic Left Movement (DLM). In October 2004, he was elected as member of the Movement's executive bureau, during DLM's inaugural congress. His writings greatly inspired DLM's discourse regarding Lebanon's independence vis-à-vis the Syrian Baath Party's hegemonic role, pacific transitions, secularism, social justice, state building, and rule of law.

After the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005, Samir Kassir actively participated in the launch of the wide popular uprising against the Syrian security apparatuses' stranglehold on Lebanon. He gave the uprising its title "The Independence Intifada", to highlight its patriotic, pro-independence nature, and echo the 1987 Palestinian Intifada against the Israeli occupation. His articles in An-Nahar became the Independence Intifada's clearest and loudest voice. He was constantly present on Martyrs' Square, discussing ideas and proposals to succeed in the recovery of the country's sovereignty and freedom, with politicians, journalists, and students.

Samir Kassir was undoubtedly the first to warn that the Independence Intifada will not be able to sustain its momentum, in the absence of a political platform calling for political and economic reform, laying the foundation of a non-sectarian system, and allowing for a genuine political reconciliation, after the Syrian army's withdrawal from Lebanon. He also was the first to call for an "Intifada within the Intifada" to keep the popular momentum alive, restore the nobility of politics and clarity of stances. In parallel, Samir Kassir opposed all forms of Lebanese racism toward the Syrian people in general, and constantly called upon the Lebanese people in his articles and in his speeches on Martyrs' Square, no to mix up the Syrian regime and its intelligence service controlling Lebanon and Syria, on the one hand, with the Syrian people, workers, and intellectuals, on the other.

Samir Kassir was assassinated on June 2, 2005, in Beirut, when a bomb placed under his car was detonated. The tragic death of this journalist and writer was one of many attempts to silence Lebanese free thinkers, put an end to the Independence Intifada, and prevent Beirut's winds of liberty from spreading across the region. Samir Kassir, who wrote Beirut's history, has therefore become a part of this history.

 

The model of intellectual renaissance embodied by Samir Kassir during his life and at the moment of his death, through his articles and academic research, has placed him at the avant-garde of Lebanese and Arab opinion leaders who have paid their life to fight tyranny and lead their country to freedom and independence.

 

Committed to Samir Kassir's values and aspirations, and believing in the need to renew the Arab culture through freedom of expression, several intellectuals and friends of Samir Kassir established the Samir Kassir Foundation, officially incorporated in Beirut under registry number 30/A.D., dated February 1, 2006.

 

The Samir Kassir Foundation is a non-profit civic organization, working within the civil society and cultural circles to spread the democratic culture in Lebanon and the Arab world, encourage the new talents of free press, and build the movement for a cultural, democratic, and secular renewal. These are the conditions to lift the Arab populations out of their state of despair.

The Samir Kassir Foundation's mission is built around three pillars:

• The first pillar: preserving, translating, and spreading Samir Kassir's literary, academic, and journalistic heritage.
• The second pillar: promoting cultural freedom and free thought, through conferences, specialized seminars, and an annual art festival providing all social categories with access to international cultural expression.
• The third pillar: defending press freedom, through monitoring and documenting violations perpetrated against journalists and media professionals, and awarding prizes to young journalists.

The Foundation's actions are not limited to the three aforementioned pillars. The Foundation is involved in all what honors Samir Kassir's memory, and contributes to the fulfillment of his thrive for freedom and renaissance. These were the two aspirations to which Samir Kassir dedicated his life.

The history of the Samir Kassir Award for Freedom of the Press dates back to 2005 when the European Commission first announced on 7 October 2005, the establishment of this European Union Award during a press conference held in Beirut.

“It is time to realise and to admit that freedom of expression is neither just a detail in countries’ cooperation with Europe nor an option for dialogue. It is an inalienable right, a non-negotiable principle.” With these words, the then-Head of the European Commission Union to Lebanon, Ambassador Patrick Renauld, highlighted the raison d’être of this prize. The Samir Kassir Award was established by the European Union to reward journalists from countries in North Africa, the Middle East and the Gulf invested in covering issues related to human rights, good governance, rule of law, the fight against corruption, freedom of expression, democratic development, and citizen participation.

This European Union initiative from the very beginning was embraced and supported by friends of Samir Kassir who, on 1 February 2006, launched the Samir Kassir Foundation. The award aims to “legitimise freedom of thought and encourage freedom of the press in countries that have committed to the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, in order to assert their rejection of violence, intimidation, threats and recurring and consistent attempts to curtain freedom of expression.”

The first Award ceremony was held on 2 June 2006, on the first anniversary of Samir Kassir’s assassination. During that first edition, two journalists received the prize. In 2007 and 2008, the Samir Kassir Award was divided into two categories: best article and best master’s thesis. Over the years, the award evolved and from 2009 to 2012, it focused exclusively on print journalism, particularly best opinion article and best investigative article. In 2013, a third category was added: best audiovisual news report. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the announcement of the results was postponed till September 10 during a special televised prime-time show. The 2020 edition also included a special Students' Award, granted by students from Lebanese universities, and since2021 by students from universities across the MENA region.

Since the first award ceremony was held in 2006, the Award has been conferred 18 times, recognizing the work of 53 journalists and researchers, comprised of 31 men and 22 women. The winners have included journalists who are living in exile and others who undertake their work at great personal cost, facing risks of persecution and threats to their freedom of expression and their life.

Two journalists won the prize twice: Lebanese journalist Habib Battah in 2006 and 2011 and Iraqi journalist Asaad Al-Zalzali in 2017 and 2018. The Award went 17 times to Egyptian winners, 11 times to Syrian winners, 9 times to Lebanese winners, 4 times to Palestinian winners, 3 times to Tunisian winners, 3 times to Iraqi, 2 times to Moroccan winners, and once to Libyan, Jordanian, and Algerian winners.

Every year the Award jury is composed by seven different people of different nationalities and backgrounds. Four members of the jury originate from the Arab world and three from European Union Member States. Members of the jury among others have included journalists, media professionals, human rights investigators and experts, researchers, civil society and former government representatives recognized for their contribution to advancing human rights causes.

The Award has since become the most prestigious journalism award in the Middle East, North Africa and Gulf region and is recognized globally as one of the top journalism awards.

Members of the Jury:

2006: Hassan Balawi (Palestine), Richard Bteich (Germany), Ariane Bonzon (France), Walid Choucair (Lebanon), Perilhou Henri (France), Elias Khoury (Lebanon), Henri Mamarbachi (Lebanon), Fouad Naïm (Lebanon), and Massimo Tommasoli (Italy).

2007: Tomas Alcoverro (Spain), Mohammed Ali Atassi (Syria), Ziyad Baroud (Lebanon), François Bonnemain (France), Pierre El Daher (Lebanon), Walid Kassir (Lebanon), Jim Muir (United Kingdom), Hassan Tlili (Tunisia), and Layla Al Zubaidi (Germany).

2008: Jean-Paul Chagnollaud (France), Ghassan El Ezzi (Lebanon), Carole Habib Kassir (Lebanon), Alistair Lyon (United Kingdom), Delphine Minoui (France), Hazem Saghieh (Lebanon), and Hani Shukrallah (Egypt).

2009: Jad Al Akhaoui (Lebanon), Nora Boustany (Lebanon), Sari Hanafi (Palestine), Roula Khalaf (Lebanon), Franck Mermier (France), Monica Prieto (Spain), and Lamia Radi (Egypt).

2010: Ahmed Reda Benchemsi (Morocco), Amine Kammourieh (Lebanon), Birgit Kaspar (Germany), Jamal Khashoggi (Saudi Arabia), Nahida Nakad (France), and Maya Yahya (Lebanon).

2011: Samir Aita (Syria), Rula Amin (Palestine), Neji Bghouri (Tunisia), Mona Eltahawy (Egypt), Dominic Evans (United Kingdom), Maroun Labaki (Belgium), and Najib Khairallah (Lebanon).

2012: Lamis Andoni (Palestine), Lasaad Ben Ahmed (Tunisia), Gabriel Deek (Lebanon), Anne-Marie El Hage (Lebanon), Hisham Kassem (Egypt), Lorenzo Trombetta (Italy), and Saad Tazi (Morocco).

2013: Shirine Abdallah (Lebanon), Geraldine Coughlan (United Kingdom), Philippe Dessaint (France), Ghazanfar Ali Khan (India), Sami Moubayed (Syria), Diana Moukalled (Lebanon), and Samia Nakhoul (Lebanon).

2014: Ghaith Abdul Ahad (Iraq), Sanaa El Aji (Morocco), Hind Darwish (Lebanon), Marc Marginedas (Spain), Laila El Raiy (Egypt), Christoph Reuter (Germany), and Marc Saikali (France).

2015: Nada Abdel Samad (Lebanon), Christophe Ayad (France), Sahar Baassiri (Lebanon), Magnus Falkehed (Sweden), Mary Fitzgerald (Ireland), Malek Khadraoui (Tunisia), and Rana Sabbagh (Jordan).

2016: Khalil Abdallah (Palestine), Frédéric Domont (France), Fatemah Farag (Egypt), Sanaa El Jack (Lebanon), Natalie Nougayrède (France), Alberto Toscano (Italy), and Michael Young (Lebanon).

2017: Yassir Mani Benchelah (Algeria), Martin Chulov (Australia), Mark Daou (Lebanon), Alfred Hackensberger (Germany), Michel Hajji Georgiou (Lebanon), Amina Khairy (Egypt), and Isabelle Lasserre (France).

2018: Adnan Hussein (Iraq), Khairallah Khairallah (Lebanon), Rami Khouri (Jordan), Leila Shahid (Palestine), Albana Shala (Netherlands), Benoît Thieulin (France), and Aidan White (United Kingdom).

2019: Fadi El Abdallah (Lebanon), Ammar Abd Rabbo (Syria), Baria Alamuddin (Lebanon), Sofia Amara (Morocco), Thanassis Cambanis (Greece), Alessio Romenzi (Italy), and Biljana Tatomir (Croatia).

2020: Bakhtiar Amin (Iraq), Thijs Berman (Netherlands), Sam Dagher (Lebanon), Farouk Mardam Bey (Syria), Bessma Momani (Jordan), Audrey Pulvar (France), and Cecilia Uddén (Sweden).

2021: Matthew Caruana Galizia (Malta), Kim Ghattas (Lebanon), Jesper Højberg (Denmark), Shada Islam (Belgium), Mahdi Jelassi (Tunisia), Daoud Kuttab (Palestine), and Amira Al-Sharif (Yemen).

2022: Ludovic Blécher (France), Nassera Dutour (Algeria), Elham Fakhro (Bahrain), Pavla Holcova (Czechia), Safaa Saleh (Egypt), Randa Slim (Lebanon), Antonio Zappulla (Italy).

2023: Madi Al-Khamees (Kuwait), Monika Lengauer (Germany), Patrick Leusch (Belgium), Afrah Nasser (Yemen), Nayla Razzouk (Lebanon), Eduardo Suárez (Spain), and Asaad Al-Zalzali (Iraq)