Iranian Journalist won the Pulitzer

[Michellica]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Iranian photographer will be recognized as the previously anonymous winner of the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for spot news photography, the panel overseeing the prestigious U.S. journalism awards said on Thursday.

Jahangir Razmi's picture of a firing squad in Iran was first published in an Iranian newspaper in August 1979. The editor withheld Razmi's identity because he was concerned for the photographer's safety, and it later circulated around the world anonymously.

Razmi's identity was only revealed, with his consent, by the Wall Street Journal on December 2.

A committee of the Pulitzer Prize Board reviewed the newspaper's story and photographic evidence and concluded that Razmi was the photographer.


"When we made an anonymous award for the first time in our history, we had hoped that the name would emerge," Sig Gissler, administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes, said in a statement.

"We are very pleased that, after 26 years, we can close the gap and honor a worthy recipient for an iconic image."

The board said Razmi will be invited to receive his award and a cash prize of $10,000 when the 2007 Pulitzer Prize winners are honored in May next year.

[Rasputin]

Good for him.

Thx for info my dear :=) .

[golgol85]

I heard about this, its very nice to have an iranian recognized for something like this, especially since the picture is a political picture that the world needs to see: its a group of men waiting to be executed by a firing squad.

He will be coming to New York to accept his prize, but i think the value of showing what is going on iran politically and how the government does inhumane things is good for the world to know and be aware of.

[Rasputin]

Jahangir Razmi(b. 1937 in Arak, Iran) is an Iranian photographer and the author of the entry that won the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography.

His photograph, Firing Squad in Iran, was taken on August 27, 1979 and published anonymously in Ettela'at, the oldest still running newspaper in Iran. Days later, it appeared on the front pages of numerous newspapers around the world.

The photograph was the only anonymous winner of a Pulitzer Prize in the 90-year history of the award, as the identity of Razmi as the photographer was not revealed until 2006.

The image continued to receive international attention, and was nominated by UPI for the Pulitzer Prize. Not knowing the author of the photograph but having received it on the UPI wire, managing editor Larry DeSantis submitted the image to the Pulitzer Prize committee crediting an anonymous UPI photographer. Then, on April 14, 1980, it became the first and only anonymous image to ever win the Pulitzer Prize.

In the years that followed, Razmi continued his photography work, covering the Iran-Iraq War. Growing tired of war, he quit his job at Ettela'at in 1987 and opened a photography studio. In 1997, he was hired as the first "Official Photographer of the President and his Cabinet" under newly installed president Mohammad Khatami.

In 2006, he was approached by the Wall Street Journal and for the first time revealed that he was the photographer. He had never before opted to claim credit for the incendiary image out of fear of retribution, but, emboldened by the passage of time, he finally chose to do so out of disappointment for never being credited before.

[IQ]

Jahangir Razmi(b. 1937 in Arak, Iran) is an Iranian photographer and the author of the entry that won the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography.

His photograph, Firing Squad in Iran, was taken on August 27, 1979 and published anonymously in Ettela'at, the oldest still running newspaper in Iran. Days later, it appeared on the front pages of numerous newspapers around the world.

The photograph was the only anonymous winner of a Pulitzer Prize in the 90-year history of the award, as the identity of Razmi as the photographer was not revealed until 2006.

The image continued to receive international attention, and was nominated by UPI for the Pulitzer Prize. Not knowing the author of the photograph but having received it on the UPI wire, managing editor Larry DeSantis submitted the image to the Pulitzer Prize committee crediting an anonymous UPI photographer. Then, on April 14, 1980, it became the first and only anonymous image to ever win the Pulitzer Prize.

In the years that followed, Razmi continued his photography work, covering the Iran-Iraq War. Growing tired of war, he quit his job at Ettela'at in 1987 and opened a photography studio. In 1997, he was hired as the first "Official Photographer of the President and his Cabinet" under newly installed president Mohammad Khatami.

In 2006, he was approached by the Wall Street Journal and for the first time revealed that he was the photographer. He had never before opted to claim credit for the incendiary image out of fear of retribution, but, emboldened by the passage of time, he finally chose to do so out of disappointment for never being credited before.

I never understood in any government east or west how can some 1 allow himself to take some 1 else's life. That is just amazing to me. who are we ?

[mike435]

I never understood in any government east or west how can some 1 allow himself to take some 1 else's life. That is just amazing to me. who are we ?

i have been able to answer it for my self and i am comftorble with my answer

the reason is becuase we have the aility to love and we are the only living thing that can love and can feel love and give love

hate is the complement and opposite of love

you animals dont feel love nor do they feel hate that is why they only kill when neccery
meternal food etc

we are the only living thing that kills for no reason

[Rasputin]

Pulitzer Winner Honored 27 Years Later

NEW YORK (AP) - An Iranian photographer who was anonymously awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1980 for capturing a chilling image of men before a firing squad was honored Monday at a ceremony for this year's winners.

The identity of Jahangir Razmi had been kept secret out of concern for his safety but was revealed in December by The Wall Street Journal with the photographer's permission.

``It's a very nice feeling. I've waited for 27 years, and I've always been longing for this day,'' Razmi said through an interpreter just before the ceremony at Columbia University.

The photo depicted a line of 11 blindfolded men executed by a firing squad in 1979, winning the Pulitzer for Spot News Photography - the only time in Pulitzer history that the board gave an anonymous award.

Razmi was presented with a certificate and $10,000 in award money. The slender, salt and pepper-haired man did not address the gathering but received a standing ovation, the only one during the program.

The mother and sister of two of the men in the photo were present. Joshua Prager, the Journal reporter who revealed Razmi's identity, also attended.

As he was heading back to his table, Monir Nahid, who witnessed the execution of her sons Ahsan, 23 and Shahrivar, 20, tearfully embraced Razmi. Her daughter, Roya Nahid, sitting nearby, also cried openly. Both women are Kurds who now live in Orange County, Calif.

``We are so pleased,'' Roya Nahid, 51, said afterward. ``That picture is the proof to the world of what the government did to our family and to the Kurdish people.''

The Pulitzer board, in announcing the winners in April, gave special recognition to Razmi for the 1979 photo, taken after Islamic radicals overthrew the shah of Iran. It was published by the Iranian newspaper Ettela'at and distributed by United Press International. His photo has long been used by critics of Iran's Islamic government as a symbol of the regime's brutality.

In a brief interview after the ceremony, Razmi said he focused only on ``speed, angle and light'' as he captured the executions.

``Everything else is secondary,'' he said in Farsi through the interpreter, Maryam Javanshir.

Razmi said he had no concerns about his safety now that his identity was widely known. He said he was always waiting ``for the right moment,'' which came when Prager visited Iran and approached him.

[Rasputin]