Ramallah – Dec. 14th, 2023. With deep emotion and serious pain, the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) issues this statement in which it commemorates the first anniversary of the passing of the late Director and Founder of the Center, the well-known journalist and dedicated human rights activist, MR. MUSA AL-RIMAWI, who left us on such a time as this day last year 2022.
The passing of MUSA AL-RIMAWI was an irreparable loss to the field of journalism in general and media freedoms and freedom of expression in particular, as he devoted his life to defending freedoms and promoting freedom of expression in society. He was a spiritual leader and an example of courage and dedication, and we will continue to follow in his footsteps, carrying his noble message and continuing to fight for media freedoms and human rights.
On this painful anniversary, the Center’s administration announces the postponement of “MUSA AL-RIMAWI” Award for Press Freedom, which was announced last year and was scheduled to be awarded this year on the first anniversary of his death, to May 3, World Press Freedom Day 2024. This decision comes in appreciation of the difficult circumstances that our people are experiencing in all of Palestine, especially in Gaza Strip, due to the Israeli aggressive war on the Strip since the seventh of October and the accompanying martyrdom of dozens of journalists in this war, not to mention the destruction of dozens of media institutions.
Our grief for the deceased and the journalist martyrs who were killed after him will remain with us forever, and at this time, we stress our commitment to continuing the process of defending human rights and media freedoms and continuing to work in various ways to hold accountable the war criminals who committed these crimes against journalists, and we pledge to continue the work in the spirit of dedication and commitment that characterized the late journalist MUSA AL-RIMAWI.
His legacy will remain alive among us, and our struggle to make the right real and serve justice will continue, in the service of the principles of media freedoms and freedom of expression that he embraced with his heart and soul until he died defending them.