ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - French journalist Samuel Forey who was wounded in a landmine explosion in Mosul last month which killed three of his colleagues has been awarded a prestigious award in France for his journalism work.
Forey has won the Albert Londres award as the best reporter of French-language press for his series of articles published in Le Figaro following the liberation of Mosul, as reported by Le Figaro on Tuesday. It is the highest recognition in French journalism, considered to be equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize. Only two people are recognized each year. The prize's namesake pioneered investigative journalism in the early 1900s.
A graduate of Celsa in Paris, Forey had studied Arabic in Damascus before starting his career in journalism. Since the beginning of the Arab revolution and start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Forey has been an active journalist in the region with his first article being published in Le Figaro in the summer of 2012.
Forey had been covering the liberation of Mosul from ISIS last month when he and his three colleagues, French journalists Stephan Villeneuve and Veronique Robert as well as Kurdish journalist, Bakhtiyar Haddad were caught in a landmine explosion on June 19. Haddad was killed in the blast. Villeneuve died shortly after and Robert later succumbed to her wounds after returning to France.
Forey suffered only minor injuries in the explosion.
The media advocacy organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) describes Iraq as “one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists" where journalists are often targeted by pro-government forces and rebel groups, including ISIS.
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