Awards for free speech defenders

Five "defenders of free speech", including a blind Chinese lawyer and a jailed Egyptian blogger, have been honoured at a London awards ceremony.
The annual Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards salute people who have contributed to the defence of freedom of expression. They are given to those who use film, the law, books, journalism, campaigning or whistleblowing to achieve this. The awards' organisers said each winner was symbolic of under-reported stories.

The whistleblower award went to Chen Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer in the Shandong province of China. Known as the "barefoot lawyer", he is a blind activist who publicized reports of forced abortions, as late as eight months pregnant, and sterilisations in the city of Linyi to enforce China's one-child policy.