Samir Kassir Prize won by a Palestinian & a Lebanese
Nayla Khalil, a Palestinian Journalist and Marwan Harb a Lebanese University student won the Samir Kassir Foundation Prize during a ceremony that was held today at the Phoenicia Hotel in downtown Beirut.
Khalil 30, was awarded the first prize based on an article about the Palestinians " Palestinians are paying the price of the hated and political detentions". She was awarded 15,000 Euros . Harb 25, was awarded the second prize of 10,000 Euros for his University theses titled: Shehabism and the creation of a modern state in Lebanon".
As part of its ongoing commitment to promote human rights and freedom of expression throughout the Mediterranean and Arabic-speaking worlds, the European Commission has decided to expand the number of countries whose citizens are eligible for the award. The 2008 prize was open to 17 countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
The prize was established by the European Commission Delegation in Lebanon, in cooperation with the Samir Kassir Foundation.
The ceremony was attended by several dignitaries including Communications Minister Marwan Hamadeh, Patrick Laurent Head of the Delegation of the European Commission in Lebanon, MP Elias Atallah, former minister George Crimea, former MP Nasib Lahoud, Capt. Mohammed Baalbaki, the president of the Foundation and the chairman of the Jury briefing Giselle Khoury, political, social, media and members of the Arbitration Commission.
After a minute of silence in memory of the souls of the martyrs of the press, Ambassador Laurent gave a speech in which he said: "Let me first express my pleasure for this celebration at a time when Lebanon regained its institutions under the shadow and the hopes of reconciliation. Just a few weeks, it was not anything this uncertain. The Samir Kassir Prize for Press Freedom was established in 2006, in memory of the Lebanese writer and journalist and university professor Samir Kassir, who was assassinated in June 2005, reflecting the EC”s commitment to freedom of expression and the establishment of a state law in the Mediterranean partner countries".
Kassir was a prominent journalist who worked for the leading An Nahar newspaper. He was very critical of Syria during the occupation of Lebanon. An Nahar that same year also lost its Managing Director Gibran Tueni who was also a leading critic of the Syrian regime. Syria was accused of the assassinations of Kassir and Tueni , in addition to all the anti-Syrian politicians starting with Former PM Rafik Hariri.