By Tamara Baluja, Associate Editor

Jailed Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy will receive the World Press Freedom Award on May 2.

By Tamara Baluja, Associate Editor

Jailed Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy will receive the World Press Freedom Award on May 2.

The award honours a Canadian journalist who has made an outstanding contribution to the right to freedom of expression in the face of persecution. It will be presented at the Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom’s (CCWPF’s) annual luncheon celebrating World Press Freedom Day in Ottawa. 

Fahmy and three other Al Jazeera journalists have been held in Egypt’s notorious Tora prison since Dec. 29 after reporting on Muslim Brotherhood activities. He has been charged with spreading false news, belonging to a terrorist group and operating without a permit

“The suggestion that Fahmy is anything other than a professional, ethical journalist is absurd,” the CJFE said in a statement. “On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, it is the hope of CJFE, CCWPF, and Fahmy that this award will further prove that he and his colleagues were simply doing their jobs and that journalism is not terrorism.”

His seventh court appearance will be May 3, which is also World Press Freedom Day, CJFE added.

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• Access to information among concerns in CJFE Review of Free Expression in Canada
• The Unknowable Country: What does Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index actually mean?