Paris, March 17 {No.2000-24} - The 2000 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was awarded today to Syrian journalist Nizar Nayyouf by UNESCO Director-General Koďchiro Matsuura at the recommendation of an international jury of media professionals.

Mr Nayyouf, editor-in-chief of the Sawt al-Democratiyya (The Voice of Democracy), published by the Committee for the Defence of Democratic Freedom in Syria (CDF), and a contributor to the Al-Hurriya weekly has been in prison since January 10, 1992. He was sentenced to ten years of forced labour for belonging to the banned CDF and for disseminating "false" information. Weakened by torture and held in solitary confinement in the military prison of Mezze in Damascus, Mr Nayyouf's health is reported to be in an alarming state.

The US$25,000 prize is awarded yearly on the recommendation of an independent jury of 14 news professionals from all regions of the world chaired by Belgian journalist Mia Doornaert, President of UNESCO's Advisory Group for Press Freedom and former President of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). The Prize this year will be presented in Geneva on May 3, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day.

World Press Freedom Day and the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Prize are part of UNESCO's mission to support the free flow of information and its activities promoting press freedom, media independence and pluralism. Created in 1997 by UNESCO's Executive Board, the Prize each year honours a person, organisation or institution that has made a notable contribution to the defence and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially if this involves risk.

The journalists Gao Yu (China), Christina Anyanwu (Nigeria) and Jesús Blancornelas have been honoured in previous years. Like Nizar Nayyouf, Gao Yu and Christina Anyanwu were in detention when they were awarded the Prize. Both have since been released.

The Prize bears the name of Guillermo Cano, the Colombian journalist and editor, who was assassinated while attempting to report on the activities of drug barons in his country. His son, Camilo Cano who is a member of the Jury, drew the attention of his colleagues to the dire situation of the press in Colombia where journalists are still facing threats, kidnapping and assassination.