Panel Discussion on Press Freedom: Courage in the Face of Censorship

Panel Talk with Iranian photographer Yalda Moaiery and Gemma Pörzgen from Reporters Without Borders about «Press Freedom: Courage in the Face of Censorship». Moderated by Sebastian H. Schroeder.

Yalda Moaiery

Yalda Moaiery is an Iranian photojournalist who has covered conflict, war, and natural disasters for the past 20 years. She started her career covering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and has since documented the aftermath of the tsunami in Indonesia, Afghanistan's first parliamentary election, floods in Pakistan, and conflicts in Lebanon, Georgia, and Russia. Women have been a focal point of Yalda’s photographic career. She has documented women working as security guards for the Iranian regime and the inception of the special police dealing with women and the enforcement of mandatory hijab in Iran. In December 2017, she captured an image of a student protesting economic conditions at Tehran University, which became an iconic symbol of Iranian protests, gaining international attention. Subsequently, Yalda was sentenced to two years in prison, serving time in Gharchak, a place she had photographed years before. Upon her release, she embarked on a project capturing the stories of 30 women sharing their experiences in prison.

In 2022, Yalda Moaiery spent three months in jail and was sentenced to 8 years in prison for covering protests surrounding the death of Mahsa Amini. Yalda Moaiery’s work has been widely published in international outlets such as Le Monde, Le Figaro, TIME, The Washington Post, Elle, Liberation, The Mail on Sunday, the San Francisco Chronicle, and The New York Times, among others.  She was awarded the IWMF Courage in Journalism Award in 2023. She is one of the World press photo jury for this year competition.

https://www.instagram.com/yaldamoaiery/

Gemma Pörzgen

Gemma Pörzgen is co-founder and board member of Reporters without Borders Germany.  She is managing the annual book „Fotos für die Pressefreit“ (Photos for Pressfreedom) together with photo-editor Barbara Stauss for more than ten years.  The Berlin based journalist is editor in chief of the journal „Ost-West. Europäische Perspektiven“, works as an editor in the online-department of national radio „Deutschlandfunk“, as an author and event moderator.  She used to be a foreign correspondent for South-Eastern Europe and in Israel/Palestine. 

www.gemma-poerzgen.de