'Independent' writer honoured

Johann Hari, one of The Independent's most distinguished columnists, has won the 2009 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism.

The award, named after the renowned war correspondent, sought entries from journalists who had "penetrated the established version of events and told an unpalatable truth, validated by powerful facts, that exposes establishment propaganda".

Hari submitted three pieces. One examined the social problems behind the facade of a recession-hit Dubai; another looked at former British jihadists; and for the third he travelled to Greenland to experience climate change first hand. The judges praised the "bravery and brilliant writing" of Hari's reporting from Dubai and the Arctic, and described his piece on ex-jihadists as "world class reporting".

Hari has also recently won the George Orwell Prize, the Amnesty International Journalist of the Year award, and the Stonewall Journalist of the Year award.