Dündar honored with CPJ’s int’l press freedom award

ISTANBUL

Daily Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dündar had been honored with the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) 2016 International Press Freedom Award, along with three other journalists from Egypt, India and El Salvador, the organization has announced.

The other awardees were imprisoned Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abou Zeid, Indian freelance journalist Malini Subramaniam and Óscar Martínez, an investigative reporter for the online newsmagazine El Faroin El Salvador.

“These four brave journalists have risked their freedom - and their lives - to report to their societies and the global community about critical news events,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon, according to a statement issued on the organization’s website.

In addition, CNN chief international correspondent and anchor Christiane Amanpour was also honored with the Burton Benjamin Memorial Award.

Dündar and the other awardees will be honored at the organization’s annual award and benefit dinner in New York City on Nov. 22.

Dündar and the daily’s Ankara bureau chief, Erdem Gül, were on trial for “leaking state secrets” due to stories published about Turkish intelligence trucks bound for Syria with hidden weapons in early 2014. They were arrested on Nov. 26, 2015, and released on Feb. 26 following a Constitutional Court decision. 

An Istanbul court later sentenced Dündar and Gül to five years in prison for “leaking state secrets” on May 6.
 
Earlier on the same day, he escaped unharmed from an armed attack in front of the Istanbul Çağlayan Courthouse.