Bengaluru: Fiery journalist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead by an unknown assailant outside her home in September,  has been presented the Anna Politkovskaya Award 2017 posthumously along  with Pakistani activist, Gulalai Ismail, who is fighting Islamic extremism in her country.

A Russian forum, Reach All Women in War (RAW in WAR), has been giving the award to  women, who stand for human rights and justice in war and conflict zones around the world since 2007.

The international award is named after Russian journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, who was killed in 2006 in Moscow for her courageous and vocal defence of the plight faced by civilians suffering in the war in Chechnya.

To mark the anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya’s murder on  October 7, 2006, and  honour her and other women like her in the world, RAW in WAR annually presents the Anna Politkovskaya Award to a female human rights defender from a conflict zone, who stands up for the victims, often at great personal risk. Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel laureate, Malala Yousafzai, was conferred the award in 2013. Lankesh’s mother, Indira, said, “It’s an honour for my daughter. We are proud that she has got the support of so many people.” Her sister and well-known Kannada filmmaker, Kavita, said that the award didn’t belong to the family alone, but to everyone who stood for Lankesh’s struggles. The family, which gave details of the award at a press conference here on Thursday,  also said it was satisfied with the efforts of the Special Investigation Team looking into her murder. Lankesh’s brother Indrajit, however, said the family did not only want the killer to be arrested, but also wanted to know what his motive was.