Mazen Dana
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mazen Dana (1962-August 17, 2003) was a Palestinian journalist, who worked as a Reuters cameraman and was shot by United States soldiers in Baghdad, Iraq on August 17, 2003. The soldiers mistook his camera for a rocket launcher.
Mazen Dana was filming outside Abu Ghraib Prison after having obtained prior permission from US authorities. Days before his murder, Dana had filmed a mass grave dug by U.S. soldiers to bury U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. He had also filmed U.S. soldiers covered in plastic bags in remote areas of the desert. Due to his filming of these sites, some believe that U.S. forces targeted Dana and murdered him outside the Abu Ghraib prison, despite the fact he was wearing a press badge and the car he was driving identified him as a member of the press.[1]
Dana worked for Reuters for over ten years, mostly in his home town of Hebron on the West Bank, where he was shot at and beaten numerous times.
In 2001, Dana was awarded the Committee to Protect Journalists's International Press Freedom Award in recognition of his courage and commitment in covering the conflict in his hometown of Hebron in the West Bank. He was married with four children.
