Amman – ARIJ: At the closing of its 16th annual forum, ARIJ announced the winners of the Arab investigative journalism awards 2023, for which 149 investigations from 16 countries were submitted.
Ramadan Younes received the Gold Award for his TV investigation, “My Secret Journey to Expose Doctors who Exploit Patients Like Me”, which was published in BBC News Arabic, and revealed cases of fraud, targeting Arab patients, carried out by clinics in Russia, the United States and the Middle East. The investigation is filmed and directed by George Hanton and produced by Nader Ibrahim.
The jury awarded the Silver Prize for the investigation “Egypt: Permanent Imprisonment.. The Series of “Repeated Imprisonment” runs “Contrary to Justice” by Egyptian journalist Isis Qassim (pseudonym). The investigation was published in partnership between ARIJ and “Almanassa” website, and revealed five cases of prisoners in Egypt, who were rotated from one case to another, without being accused of committing specific incidents, in light of the violation of their rights as defendants.
The bronze award was split in half between two investigations, Jihan Nasri’s investigation “Farmers in Kasserine, Tunisia, and Sergaz… Rental Agreement Wasting Rights and Resources” which was published in partnership between ARIJ and Al Jazeera Net, and revealed the failure of the “Sergaz” company to respond to the demands of farmers to increase the rent for the land through which the gas pipeline crosses Tunisian territory towards Italy.
The bronze award was shared by Hamza Hamky, for his investigating “Stolen properties.. How do influential people seize the properties of expatriates in Qamishli?”, which was published on Al Jazeera Net, and focused on the forgery of dozens of selling contracts in Syria.
A special jury mention was awarded to a cross-border investigation by a group of investigative journalists ‘Working in fear’: Some private contractors are accused of abusive labour practices on U.S. military bases”. The investigation, published on several sites, revealed violations against migrant workers in U.S. military bases in Gulf countries. This investigation won seven American and international awards, and was a collaboration between ARIJ, the ICIJ, NBC, and the Washington Post.
Another investigation received a special mention from the jury by journalist Ayat Khairy “Egyptian hospitals refuse to perform surgeries on women without their husbands’ consent”.
The jury was composed of: Bayan Tal, media and communication consultant. Naji Tamimi, producer for Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit. Abdualla Maksour, novelist, trainer and producer at Al Arabi TV. Heba Kandil, senior manager, media initiatives, Thomson Reuters Foundation. Anass Bendrif, specialist and trainer in media and communication.
It is noteworthy that applying for the award was available to all journalists from all Arab countries and Arabs in the diaspora who produced investigations in Arabic, whether they were produced in collaboration with ARIJ or with other institutions.
Since its inception in late 2005, ARIJ has trained more than 7,000 journalists, editors, and fact-checkers, and has supervised the production and publication of nearly 1,000 investigative reports and hundreds of in-depth reports. In 2020, ARIJ established the Arab Fact Checkers Network (AFCN), which supports more than 38 institutions and initiatives from 12 Arab countries with training, networking, and innovation.
