Then, the Mayor of Meyrin Pierre-Alain Tschudi took the floor to pay a tribute to the laureates and quoted the famous Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano to remind us of the dangers of impunity in the light of human history: "For history not to repeat itself, we must constantly remember it; impunity that awards the offense, encourages the offender. And when the offender is the state itself that violates, steals, tortures and kills without any accountability. Hence, it will give permission to the whole society to violate, steal, torture and kill. And democracy will pay the price for it, in short and long terms."
After the screening of two film-portraits about the laureates, the Mayor of Meyrin presented the Alkarama Award 2012 to Khalid Al Roken and Dr Qaseb Al Oteibi, the representatives of the laureates. Both express their deep gratitude towards our foundation on behalf on their relatives.
The ceremony was concluded by a short poetic and musical interlude: two members of Alkarama Foundation recited excerpts of a poem written by the laureate Dr Saud Al Hashimi while in detention.
At the end of the ceremony, independent journalists that said they had been sent by the Emirati Permanent Mission to the UN began verbally provoking and insulting the participants of the ceremony. This is not the first time such an incident happens with these individuals. In fact, a few months ago, they had created a disturbance during a side event at the Human Rights Council. Alkarama is currently investigating the incident during the Alkarama Award.
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For more information about the laureates of the 2012 Alkarama Award, you may want to view the two short-documentaries prepared about them for the ceremony:
- Film portrait on Dr Mohamed Al Roken (UAE), click here
- Film portrait on Dr Saud Al Hashimi (KSA), click here