Ramallah – 27th May 2013: The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) awarded 2 prizes for the winners of the best innovative quotes on freedom of expression, and the winners are two Palestinian Wala Alqasrawi and Eman Oda, the prize was a tablet 3 devise.
The genral director of MADA Mousa Rimawi stated that this competition was part of the activities for the May 3rd World Press Freedom Day for this year, as an effort to promote the culture of freedom of expression in Palestine, especially among youth who are the most active users of the social networks such as facebook.
Rimawi added that the number of participants in the competition and the amount of votes they received is an indicator of the growing awareness for the importance of freedom of expression among Palestinian youth, which we hope it will spread among all Palestinian sectors and age groups, and that all we stand together to defend the freedom of expression when ever its violated, because it is a basic human right guaranteed by the Palestinian basic law in article 19 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The arbitration committee for the competition consisted of journalists and writers: Lubna Alashkar, Saleh Masharka, Nihad Abu Ghosh, and Sameeh Mohsen, who gathered on Wednesday 16th May 2013 and picked the best 2 quotes from the 5 which received the highest votes on MADA’s facebook. And the committee also commended the views of the voters, where it considers that the 5 quotes were the best out of eighty quotes received by participants in the competition.
The first wining quote was by Eman Oda
"في وطني لست بحاجة الى بنود حرية لا اراها الا حبرا على ورق , احتاج فقط من يتركون صوتي يحلق بسلام الى وجهته".
“In my homeland I do not need articles for freedom, I see them as ink on paper, what I need is those who allow my voice to reach its destination in peace”
And the second was by Wala Alqasrawi.
" لا تحرمني من حقي في التعبير عن رأيي فتحرم وطناً باكمله من الوصول الى حريته".
“Don’t deprive me from my right to express my opinion, because then you will deprive a whole nation from reaching its freedom”
To read the full report on the participants and the committee click here
