The blog “Window of Anguish” by Iranian blogger and journalist Arash Sigarchi won the Deutsche Welle International Blog Awards, known as the BOBs. An international jury awarded prizes in six categories. Winners will be invited to receive their prizes at a ceremony during the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum on June 26 in Bonn, Germany.

At sigarchi.net/blog, Arash Sigarchi writes about human rights topics and a range of social and political issues in Iran. “The prize is very important in the Persian blogosphere, which is closely watched and censored by the authorities. Arash Sigarchi is a blogger who left Iran but continues to report tirelessly on what’s happening in his homeland and build bridges to people in Iran,” the jury said of its decision.

Arash Sigarchi writes on human rights issues centered on Iran

Sigarchi’s blog is widely read inside and outside Iran, and the author remains well-connected with sources and conditions in the country. He has lived in Washington, D.C. since 2008. In 2004 he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for his writing. With the help of Nobel Prize Winner Shirin Ebadi, he saw his sentence reduced to three years but was permitted to leave prison to receive medical treatment for tongue cancer.

“The BOBs builds bridges among people, cultures and countries,” said DW Director General Erik Bettermann. “The prize honors people who take a strong stance on freedom of expression and human rights and thereby support the spread of civil society and democracy around the world.”

The DW recognized people’s work in social media in the Best Social Activism Campaign category. The Jury Award for this category went to the Facebook page Free Syrian Blogger & Activist Razan Ghazzawi. The page was started to call attention to the detention of Syrian blogger Razan Ghazzawi, who was traveling to Amman on December 4, 2011. After Ghazzawi was released in February 2012, the site continued its work and dedicated itself to other imprisoned Syrian bloggers.

“By giving the award to this site, we are calling attention to the numerous initiatives in the Arab world that support bloggers and activists, including Alaa Abdel-Fattah, an Egyptian BOBs prize winner from 2005, and Bahrain’s Ali Abdulemam,” the jury said.

In the Special Topic Culture and Education category, the jury gave its blessing to the blog “Fasokan.” The 36-year-old Boukary Konate has been writing at fasokan.com since 2008 and documents his efforts in French and the local language Bambara to close the digital divide in rural regions of Mali. The jury said his blog represents “a bridge between the rural culture in villages and the Internet.” Konate, who was born in a village in Mali and later became a teacher, uses a portable battery and solar power cell to show people how they can improve their lives by using access to the web.

The jury faced tough decisions in selecting winners in six categories

The Egyptian mapping project Harassmap won the Best Use of Technology for Social Good category. The website provides an anonymous way for women and girls to report sexual harassment, then categorizes and localizes the incidents on a map. The site also supports girls and women by giving them a place to speak out about sexual harassment. “To the project’s credit, it addresses a taboo topic that affects many, many women in Egypt, and raises the public’s awareness of the issue.”

The Best Video Channel award went to Kuang Kuang Kuang. Wang Bo and a team of other Chinese artists use their character Kuang Kuang in comics and animations to criticize the government’s policies and comment on social problems. The group is able to use satire and a large dose of creativity to get around the Chinese censors, the jury said.

The Reporter without Borders Prize was awarded to the Bengali journalist Abu Sufian for his blog of the same name. He uses the blog to draw attention to political grievances, including authorities’ arbitrary measures. The jury said Sufian risks his life by “reporting on topics that traditional media fail to cover.”

In addition to the Jury Awards, Internet users cast more than 65,000 votes for the blogs and projects that most impressed them. The Best Blog / English winner went to The Chronikler. All of the User Prize winners can be found at www.thebobs.com.

Internationally established awards

The Jury Award winners will receive their prizes at the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum on June 26, 2012, in Bonn, Germany.

Internet users from around the world submitted over 3,200 sites in 11 languages and six categories. The many submissions attest to the trend of people using social media and online networks to create social change. The jury created a short-list of 187 candidates.

BOBs jury member and prominent Chinese blogger Isaac Mao

This year’s 12-member jury panel included Chinese blogger Isaac Mao, one of the organizers of the Chinese Blogger Conference that has been held in China since 2005.

Competition partners

Premium partners for the contest are Reporters Without Borders and the re:publica conference. Media partners are: Global Voices Online, Jetzt.de, Arabic Media Network, Somewhere in…, Bdnews.com, iSun TV, Categorynet, TV5 Monde, Gooya, sailingsilang,com, Berita Satu, La Información, La Nación, Terra and Lenta.ru.

Arash Sigarchi, an Iranian currently living in Washington, got the nod from a panel of bloggers and media experts for writing the best blog at the Deutsche Welle International Blog Award – the BOBs, DW announced Wednesday.

His blog, Window of Anguish, provides readers with an even-handed perspective of the Iranian regime’s actions.

Sigarchi continues to write about human rights and Iran

“Arash has maintained an objective view of events despite the personal attacks and tragedy he suffered at the hands of the government,” Arash Abadpour, the BOBs Persian-language jury member, told the 12-member jury panel.

Sigarchi began blogging in 2002 and was arrested two years later because of his writing and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Nobel Peace Prize Winner Shirin Ebadi took on Sigarchi’s case and won his temporary release and a reduction in his sentence to three years, which he continued serving in January 2005.

While in jail, his brother was killed in an automobile crash and Sigarchi was diagnosed with tongue cancer. He was released to receive medical treatment and when the Iranian judiciary requested he finish his sentence he was granted a visa for the United States and left Iran in early 2008.

Window of Anguish is widely ready in the Persian blogosphere

While Sigarchi continues to live in the United States, where he works for Voice of America, he represents an important source of information for readers inside and outside of Iran, Abadpour said.

“State influence on traditional media is getting stronger and stronger,” Abadpour said. “Arash is a blogger who found his way in mainstream media and still keeps his connection to Iran in his blog.”

Facebooking for freedom

The BOBs jury also honored ongoing efforts to promote democracy by giving its award for the Best Social Activism Campaign to Free Razan, a Facebook campaign that originally pushed for the release of Syrian blogger Razan Ghazzawi. But even after Ghazzawi’s release, the campaign continued working to secure the release of other detainees.

“With this award we are drawing attention to the many initatives across the Arab world that support bloggers and activists and to show that the revolutions are not done yet,” Egyptian jury member Tarek Amr said. “Detainees need the attention of the world. Some people are closely watched and some are anonymous but also deserve the world’s support and awareness.”

Personal crusades

Government actions were also central to the jury’s decision to award its Reporters Without Borders prize to Abu Sufian, a Bengali blogger on a personal crusade to call authorities to account for their policies of extrajudicial killing, which has claimed thousands of lives.

Abu Sufian blogs at great danger to himself

“When Abu Sufian’s publisher told him to stop his work, he quit his job to cover the issue,” explained Bengali jury member Shahidul Alam. “Mainstream media have backed off the topic saying it’s too dangerous, and this is one man who is putting his own life at risk to cover these killings.”

Boukary Konaté of Mali was another blogger fighting a personal battle to win the jury’s esteem. Konaté, who has blogged since 2008 in French and Bambara at Farsokan, describes his work to bring the capabilities of the Internet to rural populations in Mali.

“There is a lot of talk about mobile education communication, but there are major gaps in the world that still need to be filled,” said French BOBs jury member Claire Ulrich. “Farsokan is a person’s passion to show others what they need to know not to be on the wrong side of the digital gap and also illustrates the revival of indigenous languages and cultures on the Web.”

Criticism through comics

While many of the blogs in the DW’s 2012 International Blog Awards leveled direct attacks on repressive regimes, the creators of Kuang Kuang Kuang, use illustrations to comments on events in China.

Jury members faced a series of difficult decisions

“I never expected my animations from China to get so much attention from people around the world,” Wang Bo told DW in an e-mail. “I see the prize as encouraging creativity and artists’ independence as well as their works’ value as entertainment.”

The cartoons represent one way to provoke thought without being shut down by authorities, Chinese jury member Isaac Mao said.

“People don’t know what they don’t know and that plays into the hands of the censors,” he added. “Creative ideas like this help to spread independent views.”

Mapping the path to equality

Maps represented another way of spreading and illustrating information, jury members agreed when choosing the Egyptian project Harassmap as the winner in the category Best Use of Technology for Social Good.

Despite statistics showing that as many as 90 percent of Egyptian women are subjected to sexual harassment, the problem is not a part of the national consciousness and society blames women for harassment and makes them afraid to talk about the crimes committed against them, according to Amr.

“In social media, we are noticing that women are beginning to speak up and that needs and deserves to be supported,” he added. “Harassmap puts numbers in the faces of the Egyptian people who aren’t aware that sexual harassment is happening.”

It is the personal efforts like those made by all the BOBs winners that make the BOBs especially important around the world, according to DW Editor-in-Chief Ute Schaeffer.

“Iran, Syria and Russia represent regimes attempting to protect themselves,” she said. “That means bloggers play important roles because they are the ones calling politicians to account for their actions.”

Author: Sean Sinico
Editor: Gregg Benzow