Syrian journalist Nizar Nayyouf wins 1998 Reporters sans frontières-Fondation de France prize

(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an 18 November 1998 RSF press release on the occasion of the distribution of the 1998 Reporters sans frontières – Fondation de France prize: Nizar Nayyouf (Syria) Winner of the 1998 Reporters sans frontières-Fondation de France prize The 1998 Reporters Sans Frontières-Fondation de France prize has been awarded to Syrian […]

(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an 18 November 1998 RSF press release on the
occasion of the distribution of the 1998 Reporters sans frontières –
Fondation de France prize:

Nizar Nayyouf (Syria) Winner of the 1998 Reporters sans frontières-Fondation
de France prize

The 1998 Reporters Sans Frontières-Fondation de France prize has been
awarded to Syrian journalist Nizar Nayyouf, editor of the monthly journal
The Voice of Democracy. Imprisoned since 1992, he is suffering from
Hodgkin’s disease and is likely to die if he does not receive treatment
soon.

The presentation will take place:

At 11.30 am on Wednesday 18 November
At Espace Electra – 6 rue Récamier, 75007 Paris
(M° Sèvres-Babylone)

Nizar Nayyouf was arrested on 10 January 1992 and sentenced by a military
court on 17 March to ten years in jail and deprivation of his civic rights
for writing leaflets for the Committee for the Defence of Democratic
Freedoms in Syria (CDF), a human rights group which the government regards
as a “terrorist organisation”.

As well as editing the CDF’s monthly journal, The Voice of Democracy, the
journalist contributes to the weekly Al-Hurriya and the literary magazine
Al-Thaqafa Al-Ma’arifa.

Held in solitary confinement at Mezze military prison, Damascus, Nizar
Nayyouf is suffering from Hodgkin’s disease, which can be cured if it is
treated rapidly with chemotherapy. However, the military authorities have
made it clear that he can only receive treatment if he signs a confession
that he “made false statements concerning the human rights situation in
Syria” and promises to give up all his political activities.

Nizar Nayyouf also has medical problems caused by prison conditions and the
torture to which he has been subjected: paralysis of the lower limbs,
failing eyesight, and stomach bleeding due to frequent hunger strikes. The
conditions in which he is detained are particularly inhuman: his cell
measures only seven feet by nine and he has not seen the sun for six years.

The Reporters Sans Frontières-Fondation de France Prize, worth 50,000
francs, has been awarded annually since 1992 to journalists who, through
their work or attitudes, have demonstrated their devotion to press freedom.

In previous years the prize has gone to: