‘Raif Badawi Award for Courageous Journalists’ to be granted to Alican Uludağ

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The Germany-based Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom has announced that this year's "Raif Badawi Award for Courageous Journalists" will be granted to journalist Alican Uludağ from Turkey.

"At a time when independent journalism is under severe pressure in Turkey, Alican Uludağ's investigative reporting makes an important contribution to protecting the right to information," the Foundation has said in its statement sharing the award winner with the public.

Due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the award cannot be presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair this year. The ceremony will take place virtually at 5 p.m. on October 20, 2021.

The laudation will be delivered by EU Commission Vice President and Commissioner for Transparency and Values Vĕra Jourová.

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, together with the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, will present the Raif Badawi Award for Courageous Journalists for the seventh time this year.

Elaborating on Alican Uludağ's works, the Foundation has noted that "his reporting has made him a target of pro-government media and the [Justice and Development Party] AKP-led government."

The jury statement has read: "He has stood out as a courageous reporter in a difficult to hostile environment, standing for freedom of speech, truth and righteousness. His investigative work is characterized by a constant search for robust evidence. He is fearless and takes great risks in his research."

As recalled by the Foundation in its statement, "Alican Uludağ has been awarded various prizes for his work, such as the 2020 prize for 'Political Reporting' at the Turkey Journalism Awards of the Turkish Journalists' Association (TGC) for a series of reports that exposed the power struggle between the Turkish justice minister and other parts of the judiciary."

The award was granted to Ahmet Şık from Turkey in 2017.

About the award

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, together with the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, will present the Raif Badawi Award for Courageous Journalists for the seventh time in 2021.

The journalism award, initiated by Badawi's wife Ensaf Haidar and TV-anchorman Constantin Schreiber, is intended to commemorate the imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced in 2012 to 1,000 lashes and ten years in prison for his Islam-critical texts. (HA/SD)