The United Nations’ cultural body has awarded its annual press freedom prize to Mazen Darwish, a Syrian journalist and rights activist who has been jailed by the regime for more than three years. Darwish’s wife Yara Bader accepted the award on his behalf. Darwish was arrested on February 2012, along with Hani Zaitani and Hussein Ghreir, his colleagues at the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression. They are accused of “promoting terrorist acts.”

Darwish is one of the founders of syriaview.net, an independent news site banned by Syrian authorities in 2006 — a move he said at the time was part of the state’s “repression which targets free expression and democratic activists”.

UNESCO awarded its prize to Darwish “in recognition of the work that he has carried out in Syria for more than 10 years at great personal sacrifice, enduring a travel ban, harassment, as well as repeated detention and torture.”

The annual UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was created in 1997. The award honours a person, organisation or institution that has made a contribution to the defence and, or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world.

Some GK Questions

• The first major newspaper in India, started in 1780 is ______?  The Bengal Gazette
• The First Newspaper published in Hindi was _____ ? Udant Martand
• The oldest continuously published newspaper in India is _____? Bombay Samachar.