Umar Cheema ( ur, ) is an investigative reporter for the

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

i newspaper '' The News''. In 2008, he won a Daniel Pearl Journalism Fellowship, becoming the first Pearl fellow to work at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. He also attended

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

as a Chevening Scholar (

Chevening Scholarship The Chevening Scholarship is an international scholarship, funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, that lets foreign students with leadership qualities study at universities in the United Kingdom. History The Chevening Scholarship ...

) doing M.Sc. in Comparative Politics (

Conflict studies Peace and conflict studies is a social science field that identifies and analyzes violent and nonviolent behaviours as well as the structural mechanisms attending conflicts (including social conflicts), with a view towards understanding those pro ...

Kidnapping

On September 4, 2010, he was abducted, beaten, flogged and sexually assaulted by a group of assailants. They also shaved his head, eyebrows, and mustache. Cheema reported that his attackers asked him if he was trying to discredit the government with his reporting, leading him to believe that they were from Pakistan's

Inter-Services Intelligence The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI; ur, , bayn khadamatiy mukhabarati) is the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant ...

agency.

Aftermath

Following the incident, ''The New York Times'' issued an editorial calling on the Pakistani government to find out who abducted Mr. Cheema and bring them to justice."

The Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in New York City, New York, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journ ...

echoed the call, describing the attack as "a message sent to all journalists in Pakistan" that must be answered. For his brave journalism and willingness to publicly speak about the attack at risk of his own life, the CPJ awarded Cheema its 2011 International Press Freedom Award, "an annual recognition of courageous journalism". In his acceptance speech, Cheema thanked the group for its "recognition of the bold work Pakistani media is doing". On 14 April 2011, Cheema also received the Tully Center Free Speech Award of

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

. Cheema is the father of a son and a daughter. Adil, his son, was two years old when Cheema was abducted.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheema, Umar 2010s missing person cases Alumni of the London School of Economics Enforced disappearances in Pakistan Formerly missing people Living people Kidnapped people Missing person cases in Pakistan Pakistani investigative journalists Pakistani male journalists Year of birth missing (living people)

Kidnapping

Aftermath

See also

References