FEBRUARY

Hana Shams Ahmed, The Star, Bangaldesh
Shahnaz Munni, ATN Bangla, Bangaldesh
Andrei Soldatov, Agentura.Ru, Russia
Vivian Wu, South China Morning Post, Beijing

 

 

 

Hana Shams Ahmed, The Star, Bangaldesh
Hana Shams Ahmed is Staff Writer at The Star, the weekly magazine of The Daily Star newspaper in Bangladesh. Her investigative reports focus on gender, child, labor, migrant and minority rights. She has researched numerous cover stories for The Star, as well as special reports. Past reports include a cover story Bangladeshi migrants in Bahrain, special report on Bangladeshi migrants in Malaysia and Kuwait, as well as a report on child smuggling.
Her other research articles included Citizenship legal limbo of UN Geneva camp-based Urdu-speaking minorities, Sexual harassment at nation's top Universities, Abuse of domestic workers in middle-class homes, Medical negligence at private hospitals, etc. Her cover stories were cited in press coverage of two national court cases: proposed national sexual harassment guidelines, and citizenship rights for Urdu-speaking minorities. Latter case resulted in a landmark ruling giving Bangladeshi citizenship to Urdu-speakers after 37 years of legal limbo.
Hana is also a freelance researcher & translator for local NGOs. She is a member of Drishtipat.org, a global network of Bangladeshi human rights activists. She has worked as a Translator for Policy Leadership and Advocacy for Gender Equality (PLAGE II), Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Bangladesh Centre for Development, Journalism and Communication, and as a report writer for  Reforms in Revenue Administration.
Hana was selected as delegate to international functions in Malaysia (opening of Monash University Campus) and Singapore (CommunicAsia, Asia’s largest telecommunications fair) and as an "Asia 21 Young Leader" delegate from Bangladesh by Asia Society, New York. She is a graduate of University of Westminster, London, with a Post Graduate Diploma in International Journalism.

Shahnaz Munni, ATN Bangla, Bangaldesh
Shahnaz Munni is Special Correspondent of ATN Bangla based in Dhaka. Her reports have focused on human right issues, violence again women and children, dowry, safe motherhood and reproductive health. She has also shed light on issues like poverty, refugees, and physically challenged.
She has been awarded the UNFPA Population Award (2003) for television reporting, Media award (2006) for reportage on disaster management and Unesco club award for Bangladesh journalism award (2008).
She has a masters in Sociology from Dhaka University.
Shahnaz is a prolific Bengali writer and has published several books of short stories and poetry. She is a member of the Bangla Academy. 

Andrei Soldatov, Agentura.Ru, Russia
Andrei Soldatov is a journalist graduate from Moscow State Social University and in 1996 started work as correspondent for Segodnya newspaper. From 1998-1999 he was staff writer of Kompania journal and in September 2000, whilst at Izvestia, he began with colleagues the project Agentura.Ru. From 2002-2004 he was chief of section of Versiya (weekly newspaper), including coverage of the Moscow theatre hostage crisis.
In April 2004, Andrei Soldatov started to make comments for radio Echo Moskvy as security expert. In July 2004, he joined weekly Moscow News as the secret services observer. He covered Beslan siege for Echo Moskvy and Moscow News. Since January 2006 he has worked for Novaya Gazeta.
He covered for Novaya Gazeta 2006 Lebanon War from Lebanon and tensions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (Palestine).
Soldatov regularly makes comments on terrorism and intelligence issues for Vedomosti, Radio Free Europe and the BBC. Since July 2008 he is columnist of The Moscow Times.
In June 2008 The Moscow Times commented on his work in an article "Journalist Enjoying A Security Monopoly"
"Agentura.ru has developed into an information and analytical hub, updated on a daily basis and covering developments related to security services in Russia and the former Soviet Union and terrorist groups worldwide. It also publishes articles on the history and practices of foreign security agencies and issues like media and legislative oversight of security services... Soldatov himself has emerged as a security expert whose insights and opinion are in high demand from the media and Western think tanks."

On November 25, 2008 Andrei Soldatov was the subject of a profile prepared by the DNI Open Source Center. “Soldatov has regularly highlighted the increasing influence of the special services in Russian government, reported on the security services’ efforts to limit journalistic freedoms, followed spy cases, interviewed defectors, and chronicled personnel appointments and reorganizations of the special services,” the OSC profile stated.
On 1 November 2002, FSB officers searched the premises of Versiya, reportedly regarding information published in an Soldatov's article on 27 May 2002. However, Andrei Soldatov has claimed that this operation against his newspaper was related to a forthcoming article on the storming of the Moscow theatre and freeing of the hostages there on 26 October. Soldatov has been interrogated four times in Investigative Department of FSB based in Lefortovo.
In June 2008 Soldatov was questioned by FSB in Lefortovo over his interview with former SVR officer Sergei Tretyakov, who defected to US in 2000. This interview was published yearly 2008 year in Novaya Gazeta .
On November 12 2008, Soldatov’s employer Novaya Gazeta, which was happy to colaborate with him earlier, fired him and another Agentura.Ru colleague Irina Borogan. Soldatov and Borogan said that Novaya Gazeta had ceased its collaboration with Agentura.Ru without explanation. They believe the action came after their investigations into high profile cases.


Vivian Wu, South China Morning Post, Beijing
As one of the few mainland Chinese reporters that consistently write so-called "sensitive" stories for English newspaper with her own byline, Vivian has been lucky. Although there is mounting official pressures and restriction.
Vivian enjoyed talking to disadvantaged groups, farmers deprived of lands, women forced to abortion their babies, dissidents and courageous mainland journalists suppressed by authorities. She enjoyed meeting most outspoken intellectuals with conscience and to convey their appealing for press freedom, democracy and human rights with her balanced stories and in-depth analysis that might have been read by tens of thousands English readers.
Aware that China is still one of the areas in the world with bad human rights record, and she have a strong motive to help the nation to improve by my critical but fair stories. She believes in current China, a free media and a transparent  legal system defending people's basic rights and strive for justice are urgently needed, and is glad and lucky to contribute myself to push for a progress. Writing in English gives her much bigger freedom than most of the Chinese reporters, while speaking Chinese gives her the advantage for closer research and a better understanding of this nation and its people, and to reveal the nation's real problems and push for changes.
She has received several news awards, notably a Human Rights Awards (2006) by Hong Kong Foreign Correspondent Club and Amnesty International.  She was also invited to visit Germany and talk to local journalists and NGOs in 2007 as an outstanding reporter from China.
Born into a Beijing family, she received English training and international communication education at China's top two prominent universities- Peking University and People's University of China, from where she acquired an open mind and a wild heart for truth and free expression and equal communication.

 

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