Journalist and freedom of speech activist, Mazen Darwish Journalist and freedom of speech activist, Mazen Darwish, has been honoured with the Bruno Kreisky Award 2013. Darwish is currently detained in a Syrian prison and won the accolade for his activism in partnership with Ethiopian women’s rights advocate Bolteeh Djabbari and Australian Sisli Corti – who works to improve living conditions for the disabled.
The prize was awarded following praise from the organisation, Reporters Without Borders, who honoured Darwish for his role in defending the freedom of press in Syria.
Sophie Scheffer the French journalist who jointly covered the events in Syria with Darwish, collected the prize on his behalf.
Mazen Darwish established and heads the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression. He worked to improve the rights of journalists before being arrested by the Syrian authorities in February 2012.
His trial has been postponed several times.
15 international organisations have reported that Darwish has been subjected to torture and ill-treatment while being interrogated.