Mohammed "Mo" Nabbous started a livestream online that captured the Libyan regime's crackdown on protesters.

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Mohammed "Mo" Nabbous streamed the regime's crackdown on protesters online

When the Libyan uprising started in February, the nation was a black hole

Snipers killed Nabbous in March

CNN  — 

Harvard University named a Libyan reporter killed by sniper fire as the recipient of a prestigious journalism award for risking his life to inform others.

Mohammed “Mo” Nabbous started a livestream online that captured the regime’s crackdown on protesters in the nation during the uprising.

When the Libyan uprising started in February, the nation was a black hole as the regime retained an iron grip on information.

Nabbous, a 27-year-old technology expert, set up a command center that bypassed the regime’s firewalls and jerry-rigged a live signal.

Snipers killed him in March while he was out reporting, a few weeks after he started the livestream.

The university’s Nieman Fellows selected him as this year’s recipient of the Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism.

“At great danger to himself and with tremendous courage, Nabbous demonstrated the power of journalism in a country that hadn’t known a free press in decades. He became the eyes and ears for the world, paying the ultimate price. And for that we honor him,” the Nieman Fellows said in a statement Friday.

Nabbous and others like him risked their lives to inform the world of what was going on during the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, the statement said.

His first child was born a few months after he died.

CNN’s Samira Said contributed to this report