2006 PRESS FREEDOM AWARD WINNERS
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Abeer Al-Askary, Egypt
Abeer Al-Askary is a young Egyptian journalist who has published several investigative reports on controversial and threatening issues. Among her writings are reports on state security officers within the Ministry of Interior who have supervised torture against activists and prisoners. She has also written on corruption and lack of transparency in the educational system in Egypt. Additionally, her writings have contributed to revealing fraud during the Egyptian elections, especially concerning the President's son and the issue of bequeathing the presidency to him. Another example of the sensitive nature of her work are articles focused on the rights of the oppressed Egyptian Bahais in Egypt at a time when extremist Islamic thought is widespread. Because of her writings, she has fallen victim to a series of attacks by the Egyptian state security authorities. For example, Al-Askary was one of the victims of the assault on May 25, 2005, that targeted activists and journalists covering demonstrations against the referendum on constitutional amendments in Egypt. Female journalists were not only physically assaulted, but also sexually harassed in an attempt to break their will.

Hollman Morris, Colombia
Morris has been a reporter since the early 1990s, covering Colombia's internal armed conflict and human rights abuses. He reports for local and national radio, television, newspapers, and works as a documentary filmmaker and independent writer. Morris' highly acclaimed television program Contravia, addresses some of the most difficult and controversial issues in Colombian society. Morris produced a number of special reports on the peace negotiations, including a series of pieces designed to educate the public at large about the circumstances and consequences of the resulting agreements. Morris was eventually forced to leave Colombia because of death threats he was receiving in 2000. He returned a year later only to have funeral wreaths and notes of condolence announcing his death delivered to his home and office in 2005. Most recently, Morris has been accused of being an international spokesman for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. CPJ has expressed concern at this erroneous accusation as their research indicates that journalists have in the past been threatened, attacked, and/or murdered for alleged links to armed parties in the country.

HONORARY PRESS FREEDOM AWARD WINNER

Hayat Ullah Khan, Pakistan
Hayat Ullah Khan was a freelance tribal journalist and photographer. He worked under dangerous circumstances, covering the military action in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. He was abducted on December 5, 2005. His family suspects that he was picked up by an intelligence agency because four days prior to his disappearance he had released pictures from an attack on North Waziristan. His reports contradicted official accounts claiming that a senior Al-Qaeda commander, Abu Hamza Rabia, died after munitions exploded inside a house. Hayatullah quoted a local tribesman as saying the house was hit by an air-launched missile. International media then identified the fragments in the photographs as part of a Hellfire missile, possibly fired from a US drone. His dead body was found in North Waziristan on June 16, 2006. He leaves behind his wife, Mehrunnisa Khan, and four children. After his death was confirmed, journalists in major Pakistani cities held protest demonstrations about Khan's murder and the dangers encountered by journalists working in the tribal areas.