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Courage in Journalism Awards

Every year the International Women’s Media Foundation honors brave women journalists who risk political persecution,injury and sometimes death in their efforts to expose corruption and champion human rights.

Global Research on Women

The IWMF is working on ground-breaking research on the status of women in the media worldwide. The new study, the Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media, will measure the career progress of women in the news media and use the results to help advocate for change.

The IWMF also tracks past studies on women in the news media, and will draw from this prior work in compiling the Global Report, which will be published in 2011.

4-Year Africa Project

With generous support from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the IWMF launched "Reporting on Agriculture and Women: Africa." The project is energizing the way African media cover one of the most important topics on the continent.
The IWMF is helping African journalists to boost coverage of agriculture and rural development and increase women’s voices – both as journalists and as sources – in stories about agriculture

Funding HIV/AIDS Investigative Reporting

The IWMF is establishing 10 fellowships to train journalists in South Africa to write investigative reports on the HIV/AIDS epidemic. With support from the M*A*C  AIDS Fund, these experienced journalists will conduct interviews and write in-depth research for their publications in 2011.

07



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 7, 2007

For more information:

Letter on Behalf of Howayda Matwali

May 7, 2007

President Hosne Mubarak
c/o Embassy of Egypt
3521 International Court, NW
Washington, DC 20008

Dear President Mubarak:

We are writing on behalf of the International Women’s Media Foundation to express our alarm concerning the conviction of Al-Jazeera producer Howayda Matwali.

Matwali was convicted May 1 on charges of harming Egypt’s national interest and falsely depicting events for her work on a documentary exposing police abuse. She was fined and sentenced to six months in prison. Matwali, of Qatar, also works as a reporter for the London-based daily Al-Quds al-Arabi.

Matwali was arrested in January while the Arabic television channel was collecting material for the police feature. She was charged with damaging the country’s supreme interests and possessing fabricated video material that would damage Egypt’s reputation, with intent to broadcast it.

With the recent increase in such threats to journalists, and even deaths because of their work, we are alarmed that Matwali’s conviction signals more restrictions on free expression and press freedom in Egypt. All viewpoints should be allowed to be expressed in the media without force or coercion from authorities.

As a network of thousands of women and men in the media around the world who are supporters of a worldwide free press, we respectfully urge you to intervene to ensure that Matwali – who was simply engaged in carrying out her professional work – is exonerated. By using your power to ensure that justice is done in this case, you will take a strong step toward preserving a free and independent press in Egypt.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,
Eleanor Clift, co-chair
Liza Gross, co-chair

cc: U.S. Embassy in Egypt
8 Kamal El Din Salah St.
Garden City
Cairo, Egypt

###

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Comments

Nakawuma Louise Uganda
Thursday, June 25, 2009 8:41 AM
please release them. they are doing a noble Job.They donot be harrassed like robbers or muderers Louise Nakawuma Ugandaa

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