Ahmed Mansour among 18 journalists nominated for 2017 RSF prize

Prominent Emirati human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor has been nominated among 18 journalists and media outlets for 2017 RSF-TV5MONDE Prize.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and TV5-Monde will award their 2017 Press Freedom Prize on 7 November.

 The ceremony will be held as part of the World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg and there will be three laureates, a journalist, a citizen-journalist and a media outlet.

The 18 nominees were chosen by RSF’s staff on the basis of their professionalism, independence and commitment to media freedom.

Ahmed Mansoor was jailed on March 19 on charges of posting false information on social networks, endangering national unity, and damaging the UAE’s reputation.

 In the weeks prior to his arrest, he had called for human rights defender Osama Al Najjar’s release and had condemned the 10-year jail sentence imposed on the academic and activist Nasser bin Ghaith. He received the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in 2015.

The annual RSF-TV5 Monde Prize has been drawing attention to the importance of the freedom to inform since 1992 by honouring journalists and media outlets that have made a noteworthy contribution to the defence or promotion of this freedom. Each award comes with 2,500 euros in prize money.

Read more about the other nominees: https://rsf.org/en/news/18-journalists-and-media-outlets-nominated-2017-...