A female journalist from Afghanistan will receive the Per Anger Prize, a Swedish award for human rights.
Najwa Alimi, 25, will be awarded the prize on October 17 for her ”fight for freedom of expression and women’s rights,” the Living History Forum said in a statement.
Alimi currently works as a reporter for the Afghan TV channel Zan TV, the only channel in the country that employs only female reporters and editors.
She has made a name for herself as a fearless reporter, raising topics preferably avoided by other journalists, including social vulnerability, homelessness, drug addiction, and women’s rights. Outside of work, she and her friends run a book café, providing a haven for young girls and boys where they can borrow books and talk freely, the statement said.
As a journalist, Alimi has been shot and threatened. To keep fighting for women’s rights to be seen and heard takes great courage. Najwa Alimi gives hope to a new generation of Afghan girls and boys, said Ingrid Lomfors, Director of the Living History Forum and chairman of the Per Anger Prize jury.
Alimi said that she wanted to demonstrate that women can work in an industry considered ”taboo” for them.
“I realized that journalism was the quickest way if I wanted to reach women all around Afghanistan, and that it could serve as a platform to fight for women’s rights,” Alimi said.
The annual Per Anger Prize was instituted by the Swedish Government in 2004 to honor the memory of Ambassador Per Anger.
It is awarded for humanitarian work and initiatives in the name of democracy.
