PARIS: The United Nations’ cultural agency said Wednesday that it had awarded its annual press freedom prize to two Reuters reporters jailed in Myanmar over their reporting on the killings of Rohingya Muslims in the country.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been behind bars since December 2017, detained on claims of violating state secrets.
“They were arrested because they documented a taboo topic regarding crimes committed against Rohingyas,” said Wojciech Tochman, a Polish reporter who headed the jury for the UNESCO prize.
The Guillermo Cano prize, named for a Colombian journalist gunned down in Bogota in 1986, will be awarded on May 2 at a ceremony in Ethiopia on the eve of World Press Freedom Day.
Rights groups have denounced the jailing of the two Myanmar nationals as an attempt to muzzle criticism of the government’s treatment of the Rohingya minority.
At the time of their arrest the reporters were probing the extrajudicial killing of 10 Rohingya men at Inn Din village in northern Rakhine state.
They were convicted of possessing classified information regarding security operations in Rakhine, from where an estimated 740,000 Rohingya fled during an army-led crackdown the United Nations has described as “ethnic cleansing.”
They were sentenced to seven years in prison. In February, lawyers lodged an appeal with Myanmar’s Supreme Court.
“Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo symbolize their country’s emergence after decades of isolation,” beginning with landmark elections in 2015 which ended decades of military rule, said Tochman.
Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was awarded a Nobel prize over her push for democracy, has refused to use her influence to secure a pardon for the reporters.
Jailed Reuters journalists in Myanmar win UN press freedom prize
Jailed Reuters journalists in Myanmar win UN press freedom prize
- Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been behind bars since December 2017
- The Guillermo Cano prize will be awarded on May 2 in Ethiopia on the eve of World Press Freedom Day
MenaML hosts 2026 Winter School in Saudi Arabia to boost AI education, collaboration in region
- Second edition of Winter School will be hosted in partnership with KAUST
DUBAI: The Middle East and North Africa Machine Learning Winter School will host its second edition in Saudi Arabia this year, in partnership with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.
The non-profit held its inaugural edition in Doha last year in partnership with the Qatar Computing Research Institute.
The initiative began when like-minded individuals from Google DeepMind and QCRI came together to launch a platform connecting a “community of top-tier AI practitioners with a shared interest in shaping the future of the MENA region,” Sami Alabed, a research scientist at Google DeepMind and one of the co-founders of MenaML, told Arab News.
Along with Alabed, the core team includes Maria Abi Raad and Amal Rannen-Triki from Google DeepMind, as well as Safa Messaoud and Yazan Boshmaf from QCRI.
Messaoud said that the school has three goals: building local talent in artificial intelligence, enhancing employability and connection, and reversing brain drain while fostering regional opportunity.
AI has dominated boardrooms and courtrooms alike globally, but “AI research and education in MENA are currently in a nascent, yet booming, stage,” she added.
Launched at a pivotal moment for the region, the initiative was timed to ensure “regional representation in the global AI story while cultivating AI models that are culturally aligned,” said Rannen-Triki.
The school’s vision is to cultivate researchers capable of developing “sophisticated, culturally aligned AI models” that reflect the region’s values and linguistic and cultural diversity, said Messaoud.
This approach, she added, enables the region to contribute meaningfully to the global AI ecosystem while ensuring that AI technologies remain locally relevant and ethically grounded.
MenaML aims to host its annual program in a different city each year, partnering with reputable institutions in each host location.
“Innovation does not happen in silos; breakthroughs are born from collaboration that extends beyond borders and lab lines,” said Alabed.
“Bringing together frontier labs to share their knowledge echoes this message, where each partner brings a unique viewpoint,” he added.
This year, MenaML has partnered with KAUST, which “offers deep dives into specialized areas critical to the region, blending collaborative spaces with self-learning and placement programs,” said Abi Raad.
The program, developed in partnership with KAUST, brings together speakers from 16 institutions and focuses on four key areas: AI and society, AI and sciences, AI development, and regional initiatives.
“These themes align with the scientific priorities and research excellence pillars of KAUST as well as the needs of regional industries seeking to deploy AI safely and effectively,” said Bernard Ghanem, professor of electrical and computer engineering and computer science at KAUST and director of the Center of Excellence in Generative AI.
The program will also highlight efficiency in AI systems, with the overall goal of equipping “participants with the conceptual and practical understanding needed to contribute meaningfully to next-generation AI research and development,” he told Arab News.
For KAUST, hosting the MenaML Winter School aligns with Saudi Arabia’s ambition to become a global hub for AI research under Vision 2030.
By attracting top researchers, industry partners, and young talent to the Kingdom, it helps cement the Kingdom’s position as a center for AI excellence, Ghanem said.
It also aligns closely with Vision 2030’s “goals of building human capital, fostering innovation, and developing a knowledge-based economy” and “contributes to the long-term development of a world-leading AI ecosystem in Saudi Arabia,” he added.
Although the program accepts students from around the world, participants must demonstrate a connection to the MENA region, Abi Raad said.
The goal is to build bridges between those who may have left the region and those who remain, enabling them to start conversations and collaborate, she added.
A certain percentage of spots is reserved for participants from the host country, while a small percentage is allocated to fully international students with no regional ties, with the objective of offering them a glimpse into the regional AI ecosystem.
Looking ahead, MenaML envisions growing from an annual event into a sustainable, central pillar of the regional AI ecosystem, inspired by the growth trajectory of global movements like TED or the Deep Learning Indaba, a sister organization supporting AI research and education in Africa.
Boshmaf said MenaML’s long-term ambition is to evolve beyond its flagship event into a broader movement, anchored by local MenaMLx chapters across the region.
Over time, the initiative aims to play a central role in strengthening the regional AI ecosystem by working with governments and the private sector to support workforce development, AI governance and safety education, and collaborative research, while raising the region’s global visibility through its talent network and international partnerships.
He added: “If TED is the global stage for ‘ideas worth spreading,’ MenaML is to be the regional stage for ‘AI ideas worth building.’”
The MenaML Winter School will run from Jan. 24 to 29 at KAUST in Saudi Arabia.
