The Daniel Pearl 2017 Award for Courage and Integrity in Journalism was awarded to Washington Post’s international correspondent Souad Mekhennet, who became the first Muslim woman to receive this prestigious award, the Chicago Journalists Association (CJA) recently announced. The award will be handed over to Souad Mekhennet on November 10, at the 78th annual dinner of the CJA.
Souad Mknennet was recommended by the parents of Daniel Pearl, the American journalist of the Wall Street Journal who was assassinated in Pakistan by Al Qaeda.
The Washington Post writes : « The Pearls sent the following message to CJA President Allen Rafalson: The Daniel Pearl Foundation is proud to join the Chicago Journalists Association in honoring Souad Mekhennet in her one-woman effort to penetrate the secrecy wall surrounding ISIS operatives. Souad best exemplifies Daniel’s spirit of courage and integrity, as well as his uncompromising commitment to the pursuit of truth.”
In its message of recommendation, the Daniel Pearl Foundation noting that the winner of this year « is a good illustration of Daniel’s spirit of courage and integrity, as well as his uncompromising commitment to the search for truth ».
Souad Mekhennet is well known for her reports on terrorism and more specifically for her book » I Was Told to Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad » (Henry Holt Edition, June 2017) which became Washington Post’s best seller.
Born in Germany to a Moroccan father and a Turkish mother, Souad Mekhennet is the first Muslim woman to win the Daniel Pearl Prize. She is a graduate of the Harvard’s Weatherhead International Policy Center, the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and the Geneva Center for Security Policy.
Source : The Washington Post/ Daniel Pearl Foundation
