Mahmoud Hussein wins NABJ’s Percy Qoboza Award

Al Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein honored with Percy Qoboza Award, from the National Association of Black Journalists. NABJ honored Hussein during a virtual awards event on Saturday, December 19, 2020.

The event's moderator Kenneth Moton, from ABC, said that Mahmoud Hussein pays the price for his professionalism and his belief in press freedom, and the NABJ chose him to win this award in appreciation of his sacrifices and to shed light on his suffering in prison.

The annual Percy Qoboza award honors the groundbreaking and often dangerous work done by foreign journalists and named after the late Percy Peter Tshidiso Qoboza, editor of The World newspaper in Soweto. Qoboza’s powerful columns ranged from coverage of the 1976 Soweto riots to the tragic horror of apartheid and the white minority government’s treatment of millions of black Africans.

The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is a nonprofit organization that provides innovative, quality programs and services to its members. The organization advocates on behalf of Black journalists and media professionals in the U.S. and worldwide. NABJ’s membership is more than 4,000 includes emerging journalists, professional journalists, student journalists, journalism educators and media professionals of all kinds.

Over the past weeks, a number of international human rights organizations have renewed their demand for the immediate release of Mahmoud Hussein who has spent four years in Egyptian prison under arbitrary and illegal detention. 

Al Jazeera has launched an online solidarity petition calling for the immediate release of Mahmoud Hussein, in which you can participate through this link.