Guantanamo detainee Sami al-Hajj to receive international press freedom award

After a plight largely ignored by the international media, Sami al-Hajj, the Al Jazeera cameraman held in Guantanamo Bay, is to receive an international press freedom award.

Al-Hajj (left, photo courtesy of William Edward Graham/ GIJC-2008 Lillehammer, Norway), an assistant cameraman for the Arabic channel, was captured by Pakistani intelligence close to the Afghan border and spent six years at the detention camp until his release in May 2008.

In an interview at last weekend's Global Investigative Journalism Conference (GIJC) in Norway, he was invited to Toronto in October to receive the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) International Press Freedom Award.

"I saw myself as a reporter. Not working against the US, but to document what was happening in Guantanamo," al-Hajj told delegates.

Deborah Manning, from Swiss NGO Alkarama for Human Rights, told the GIJC audience that al-Hajj's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, had said he had lost his best ally after Al-Hajj was released.

"Sami acted as a reporter while he was in Guantanamo and survived through his professionalism," she said.

During his detention al-Hajj received 'very little' interest from western media, Ezzeddine Abdelmoula, from Al Jazeera English's media relations department, told the conference.

While Al Jazeera channels ran a banner on al-Hajj every day during his captivity, other mainstream media channels did not give his imprisonment much attention.

"We think this is also part of why he was held there so long," said Abdelmoula.

Haakon Haugsbö from Skup, a Norwegian foundation for investigative journalism, asked if Abdelmoula blamed western media.

"We think journalists have a responsibility to support each other, and I think this case could have been highlighted more," he answered.

It was difficult to highlight the case when it happened somewhere unexpected, like the US, said Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) Benoît Hervieu, who also blamed the parochial nature of the general media.

Al-Hajj is currently working on a series of programmes for AlJazeera on human rights issues.

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