The Joe and Laurie Dine Award 2017

Maggie Michael

Best international reporting in any medium dealing with human rights

AWARD DATE: 2017

AWARD NAME: 17 The Joe and Laurie Dine Award

AWARD RECIPIENT: Maggie Michael

AWARD RECIPIENT AFFILIATION: The Associated Press

AWARD HONORED WORK: “In Yemen, Human Rights a Casualty of War”

AWARD SPONSOR: Philip Dine

In a year filled with horrific violence in many parts of the world, the war in Yemen did not get the attention it deserved. The AP series on the secret torture taking place fills out much of what was unknown about the war in Yemen led by U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. Maggie Michael took great personal risks, with her video colleague, driver and fixers, to tell the story of the 18 secret prisons in Yemen where detainees are tortured by men from the UAE. Chillingly, eyewitness reported seeing Americans in U.S. Military uniform assisting with interrogations. Michael also documented other effects of the proxy war waged in Yemen including malnourished children and economic pressures that result in more childhood marriages as families seek to offload their daughters. Michael and her team documented all of this and more in a chilling package that included charts, video and compelling graphics. The response was immediate and included calls by U.S. senators and the government of Yemen for an investigation.

Read a sample of the award-winning work:

Inside Yemen’s Secret Prisons: ‘We Could Hear the Screams’, June 23, 2017
US Interrogates In Yemen Jails Rife With Torture, June 21, 2017
Inside A Yemeni Prison: Interactive
Senators Ask Military to Clarify US Role in Yemen Torture, Jun. 24, 2017
Yemen’s Children Starve as War Drags On, Jan. 2, 2017
African Migrants Face Torture, Blackmail Amid Yemeni Chaos, Jan. 28, 2017
Girls Are Increasingly Being Married Off in War-Torn Yemen, May 27, 2017
Saudi Barred Yemeni President From Going Home, Officials Say, Nov. 6, 2017

Citation Recipients: Dionne Searcey and Sarah Topol
Affiliation: The New York Times
Honored Work: “Hell’s Children”

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