Malaysiakini editor Steven Gan will be the first Malaysian journalist to be awarded the International Press Freedom Award.

Gan is one of four journalists selected for 2000 to mark the 10th annual awards by the [#1]Committee to Protect Journalists[/#], a New York-based journalist organisation dedicated to the defence of press freedom internationally.

The other winners are Bosnia-Herzegovina journalist Zeljko Kopanja, publisher Modeste Mutinga from Democratic Republic of Congo and jailed Iranian reformist journalist Mashallah Shamsolvaezin.

CPJ chairman Gene Roberts said these journalists were honoured "for their great courage in the face of enormous risks".

"They bravely stand up to tyrants who won't allow free discussion, who want to hide corruption, who want to keep the world from witnessing their deeds. They inspire us all," he said.

On hearing the news, Gan said that he is pleasantly surprised and honoured to receive the award.

"There are a number of persecuted Malaysian journalists who should share this award," he said.

Among them, he said, are Ahmad Lutfi Othman, editor of banned magazine Detik , Harakah editor Zukifli Sulong who is standing trial for sedition, and MGG Pillai, a freelance journalist slapped with a RM2 million law suit.

"Above all, every member of the malaysiakini team deserves this award," said Gan.

A pioneer

CPJ describes Gan, the co-founder and editor of malaysiakini , as a pioneer in the use of Internet to evade government restrictions on the press.

"With the major media in Malaysia owned or controlled by the ruling coalition, and a strict licensing system in place to shut down any publications that do not follow the official line, self-censorship is the norm," said CPJ in a press statement.

"Gan uses the relatively unfettered space of the Internet to publish a newspaper that challenges the existing order."

According to CPJ, Gan frequently "did battle with both government regulations and the timidity of editors at The Sun newspaper ", where he worked for two years from 1995 to 1997.

CPJ related how Gan led a team of reporters who exposed the deaths of 59 inmates in the Semenyih illegal immigrants detention camp in Selangor and had to give the[#2] information[/#] to Tenaganita's Irene Fernandez after his editors in The Sun refused to run the reports.

CPJ also added that Gan was one of five journalists arrested in 1996 during the Second Asia-Pacific Conference on East Timor after the meeting was disrupted by a Barisan Nasional youth group.

He had to spend five days in jail, which resulted in Amnesty International declaring him as a prisoner of conscience.

"When his editors spiked a column he wrote detailing his arrest and those of conference organisers and participants, he resigned in protest," said CPJ.

CPJ added that the one-year-old online publication malaysiakini is providing a new model for press freedom under authoritarian regimes.

Gan will be the first online journalist to win the award in 10 years.

Assassination attempt

Kopanja, another recipient of the press freedom award, is the co-founder and editor of Nezavisne Novine , the largest independent Serb daily in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He had almost lost his life when he became a victim of a car-bomb explosion.

He survived the assassination attempt, but lost both his legs. He believed his attackers tried to kill him for publishing a series of articles that documented the killings of Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian Serb authorities during the 1992-95 war.

Another recipient, Mutinga, is the publisher of Le Potential, the only independent daily in war-torn Congo.

His daily frequently criticised the new regime of Laurent-Desire Kabila which overthrew Mobutu Sese Seko in May 1997, and thus has become a frequent target of government reprisals.

"He has been arrested, detained without charge, and interrogated numerous times, and his passport has been confiscated on several occasions. In January 2000, president Kabila's advisers physically assaulted Mutinga in New York where he was covering Kabila's meeting with the United Nations Security Council," said CPJ.

CPJ added that despite all the harassment, Mutinga remains a relentless advocate for human rights in one of Africa's most repressive countries.

The fourth recipient, Shamsolvaezin, is currently serving a 30-month jail term in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison for being a reformist editor in a country where independent press is under siege.

One of Iran's most respected and popular journalists, Shamsolvaezin was a target of the conservative judiciary for his bold coverage of social and political affairs.

He was sentenced to imprisonment last April for allegedly insulting Islamic principles. His "crime" was having published a 1999 article criticising capital punishment in Iran.

Shamsolvaezin is the editor of ground-breaking dailies such as Jameah, Tous, Neshat and Asr-e-Azadegan , and each one was successively banned by Tehran's Press Court between 1998 and 2000.

Distinguished achievement

Former publisher of the Los Angeles Times and the former chairman and editor-in-chief of Times Mirror , Otis Chandler, was also honoured.

Chandler will be accorded the Burton Benjamin Memorial Award for a lifetime of "distinguished achievement in the cause of press freedom".

Under Chandler, The Times expanded its coverage, resulting in it having an editorial staff of about 1,000 at present. The paper is renowned for its in-depth reporting, literary journalism and investigative articles, and has won 20 Pulitzer Prizes since 1960.

Newsday, the Baltimore Sun and other Times Mirror dailies also flourished under Chandler's leadership. He continues to speak out in support of an unfettered press at a time when newspapers around the country are increasingly facing corporate business pressure.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony in New York City on Nov 21