Courage Awards: 1995 Courage Award Winners
Chris Anyanwu, Nigeria
Horria Saihi, Algeria
Gao Yu, China
While editor-in-chief of the independent weekly, The Sunday Magazine, Chris Anyanwu declined to publicly endorse the military regime of General Sani Abacha. Weeks later, she was arrested and sentenced to life in prison, charged with publishing stories about an alleged coup plot against Abacha and refusing to reveal the sources.
One day while in solitary confinement, she was slipped a note by a sympathetic guard. It said, "Some women in America are giving you a prize. The world is watching." Anyanwu told the IWMF that after news of the award she thought, "Yes! Somebody must understand or else they wouldn't just give out an award like this. I was very much encouraged and strengthened by it. And it made me confident and determined not to cave into pressure."
After 1,251 days in confinement, Anyanwu was released in June 1998 following Abacha's sudden death. She finally received her Courage in Journalism Award during the 1998 ceremony and is now in the process of establishing a new radio station in Nigeria.
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Algerian journalists, embattled from both sides in the ongoing civil war, continue their daily struggle to work as well as to stay alive. As a television producer, director and reporter, Horria Saihi has fought government censorship and the threat of fundamentalism since the mid-1980s. She has been condemned to death by Muslim fundamentalists, and went into hiding in late 1994 after discovering that she was on a hit list.
Saihi's work includes a documentary series on television censorship, which was canceled by the government after six months without explanation. She has also filmed testimonials with the families of victims of Islamic terrorism, revealing the impact of violence on daily life in Algeria. The assassination of approximately 70 journalists, including colleagues and friends, since 1992 has not changed her determination.
Saihi travels throughout Algeria to produce her reports and occasionally files stories with French television stations. In 1996, she produced documentaries on the clearing of landmines in Algeria and on women who had been raped. After Saihi spent months obtaining the approval of the Algerian government to work on these films, both were censored and have never been aired.
Saihi is still in hiding as the threats on her life continue.
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One of the most respected journalists in China, Gao Yu was in prison when her award was announced. An economic and political reporter, she was sentenced in 1993 to six years in prison for "leaking state secrets," through - ironically - a pro-Chinese newspaper in Hong Kong. The charges brought against Gao led some observers to believe that the underlying goal was to send a message about acceptable boundaries of press freedom and limit media criticism of China's government.
During the 1980s Gao became known for her investigative pieces on economic issues and her interviews with many of the major architects of reform. Her writings and involvement in the 1989 pro-democracy movement and her willingness to jeopardize her safety and career in the service of freedom, democracy and human rights significantly contributed to the free press movement.
Gao was released on medical parole in March 1999, but the terms of her release restrict her from speaking with reporters. Her son has indicated that she is still in poor health and is seeking treatment for kidney ailments and high blood pressure before deciding whether she will continue her journalism career.
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