Khadija Ismail, refuses $250,000 ‘prize’ offered to her by Qatar’s Anti-Corruption Centre
Azerbaijani investigative journalist Khadija Ismail has been
offered a $250,000 cash award from Qatar’s Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption
Centre.
After looking into the activities of the centre and
discovering the fund was created by the emir of Qatar, who had closed the
center for investigative journalism in Qatar, Khadija Ismail declined the
award.
“The representative of the fund answered that along with the
prize, they also give $250,000 and that they were hoping for a positive answer.
I learned that [the emir] who presents
himself as a reformer has closed the investigative journalism center in Qatar,
and in Qatar, journalism is as dangerous a profession as in ours.”
The journalist also added that the reason why the foundation
wants to give her the prize is to keep famous journalists under its influence
with this award:
“Why me? They have been distributing the prize for three
years, not a single famous person has yet agreed to receive the prize. It is
the famous winners who legitimize such initiatives. I don’t want to sound
immodest, but a friend explained to me that they need my name.
“I answered them. I said, thank you, I investigated the
issue and do not believe in your sincerity, and I do not sell my reputation for
money.”
Khadija Ismail is engaged in investigative journalism. She
was arrested in 2014 and imprisoned for seven years and six months on charges
of tax evasion and illegal entrepreneurship.
On May 25, 2016, the Supreme Court changed her sentence to a
suspended sentence of three and a half years and released her. Now the
journalist has a ban on leaving the country.
By the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, in
this case, the rights of the journalist, protected by Articles 5 (liberty and
security of person), 6 (fair trial), 10 (freedom of expression) and 18 (limits
on the use of restrictions on rights) of the European Convention were violated.
For these violations, the Azerbaijani government as a whole
must pay the journalist compensation to the amount of 25,000 euros, but the
journalist says that she has not yet received this money.
On National Press Day, July 22, President Ilham Aliyev
awarded several medals to journalists. The head of RealTv Mirshakhin Agayev was
awarded the Order of the 2nd degree ‘For Services to the Fatherland’. Elchin Shikhli was awarded a medal of the 3rd
degree order
Several journalists were awarded the Taraqqi medal and the
title of Honored Journalist.
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