The investigative report "Immigration with a similar passport... Brokers and a black market for European travel documents", produced by the careful press unit of Al Jazeera Net Samir Kassir Award for the category of investigative reporting, the results of which were announced this evening in Beirut.
The investigation, prepared by journalist Mahmoud al-Sobki and supervised by colleague Zuhair Hamdani, was shortlisted among dozens of investigations from several Arab websites and platforms, to receive the first prize after competing with 3 other investigations.
The investigation reveals the phenomenon of selling similar, original and counterfeit passports, and how some countries such as Turkey and Greece have turned into an open market for passport brokers and smugglers through social networks, and the work penetrates the world of these smugglers and brokers, and reveals their methods of work and methods of catching migrants and asylum seekers in European countries.
Colleague Mahmoud Al-Sobky receives the award for the best investigative report (social media)
An investigative report published by Al Jazeera Net was entitled "The Belarusian trap ... Arab Migrants in the European Border Game", by Mahmoud Sobki and Zuhair Hamdani, also won the silver award as the second best Arab investigative report for the year 2022, at the conclusion of the 15th forum of the "Arab Journalists for Investigative Journalism / ARIJ" network in the Jordanian capital, Amman, last December, out of 133 investigative reports that participated in the competition.
The same investigation was shortlisted for the Swiss True story Awards out of more than 900 submissions from around the world, and the winning work will be announced on June 22.
The Samir Kassir Award for Press Freedom is an annual award presented by the European Union in cooperation with the Samir Kassir Foundation since 2006. Created in memory of the Lebanese journalist and writer Samir Kassir, who was assassinated on 2 June 2005, the prize is awarded in the investigative journalism category, opinion pieces and audiovisual news reporting.
A total of 240 journalistic works in the three categories participated in the award, and the jury consisted of journalists and academics from Lebanon, Yemen, Kuwait, Iraq, Spain, Germany and Belgium.