The Award for Young Kashmiri Photojournalist is given to Masrat Zahra, from International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF)

London: International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) Award for Young Kashmiri Photojournalist Masrat Zahra.Young Kashmiri female photojournalist Masrat Zahra has been shortlisted by the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) for the ‘Anja Niedringhaus Award’ on Thursday. Masrat Zahra said, “This award is the recognition of our work. We reported transparently in every situation and tried to present the truth accurately. A case was registered against me under UAPA and the police never recognised me as a journalist. “Today’s award is a message in itself that you can’t silence us,” She said.The award presented to Masrat Zahra, is in memory of German photojournalist Anja Niedringhaus, who died in Afghanistan in 2014. The US $ 20,000 award is given annually by the IWMF to brave women journalists who are working professionally in troubled or conflict-ridden regions.

I am incredibly honored to share that I have won the Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award from @IWMF I'm happy that my work has finally been recognized.
After thanking Almighty,I would like to say a big thank to my mentor, @ShowkatNanda for his guidance, love & care pic.twitter.com/ztMcdlpEKO

— Masrat Zahra (@Masratzahra) June 11, 2020

Global media watchdog One Free Press Coalition has included a Kashmiri photojournalist in its June list of the “10 most urgent” cases of journalists under attack for pursuing the truth, spotlighting the situation in the Valley less than a month after the Pulitzer Prizes did so.

Masrat Zahra was booked in April in Kashmir under the draconian anti-terrorism law in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. Jammu and Kashmir police have accused Zahra of uploading photographs that “can provoke the public” and posts “glorifying anti-national activities”. But the police have not publicly specified any pictures she had taken.

Zahra had uploaded on Facebook an already published picture of a woman who reportedly suffers panic attacks even two decades after her husband was killed allegedly killed by the security forces. Zahra had also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for the candle-light vigil in early April to bolster unity in the fight against the virus.

One Free Press Coalition, whose members include, Time magazine, The Washington Post newspaper, the Al Jazeera news channel and the Reuters news agency, publishes the “10 most urgent” list, ranked in order of urgency, every month calling attention to the most pressing cases of journalists under attack.

On the June list, Zahra has been ranked eighth, followed by murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. “Police investigate, harass and intimidate photojournalist for images posted to Facebook,” the list says below a photograph of Zahra.

“Masrat Zahra, a freelance photojournalist in Kashmir, could face a fine or up to seven years in prison under a law permitting India’s counterterrorism police to detain suspects for extended periods without a formal charge,” the coalition said in a statement.

One Free Press Coalition partners with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) to identify the most-urgent cases for the list, which is updated and published on the first business day of every month.

Several journalists in Kashmir have been in the crosshairs of the government, facing arrests, beatings, intimidation and FIRs after last year’s revocation of the state’s special status.