COPENHAGEN, 9 September, 2016 (IMS): Stories of tax evasion and power abuse uncovered through the Panama Papers in Spring 2016 has left few in doubt about the value of investigative journalism as a tool to hold those in power to account.
In the Arab world, a selected group of investigative journalists supported by the IMS-founded network Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ), dove into the historic data leak to expose the wrongdoings of implicated leaders in the region.
Their participation in the Panama Papers exposé is a testament to the work of ARIJ, which has worked tirelessly to ensure the existence of investigative journalism in a region over the last decade with IMS support.
The mere presence of investigative journalism in a region with little space for public accountability is a significant achievement in itself.
- In April 2016, investigative journalists from ARIJ and the IMS-supported Syrian Radio Rozana working on the Panama Papers uncovered how Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and his allies were able to skirt international sanctions by registering shell companies in places like the Seychelles. Read the story here.
- Mustafa Marsafawi spent two years investigating suspicious deaths and suicide cases within the Egyptian Central Security Forces (CSF). He revealed how new recruits were exposed to violence from officers. After the report aired on BBC, a CSF officer was convicted of murder.
- An investigation documented 10 deaths as a result of torture in Tunisia’s detention centres. After Al Jazeera English aired the report, the Tunisian parliament established a Commission to monitor conditions in detention centres.
- Two Syrian journalists from ARIJ reported on networks that take over real estate ownership from thousands of Syrians who had fled the country through forged documents. As a result of the investigation, the Ministry of Justice in Syria started archiving 10 million house deeds and land titles.
- An award-winning cooperation between BBC and Al Balad Radio in Jordan uncovered horrendous physical abuse of disabled at care centres in Jordan. This led to the closing of care centres, the prosecution of staff and the establishment of a a government investigative commission
- Dlovan Barwari, a member of the Network for Iraqi Reporters for Investigative Journalism (NIRIJ) uncovered the brutal practice of genital mutilation of girls as young as five in Kurdistan. The investigation led to the parliament adopting legislation criminalising genital mutilation.
