Ghaith Abdul-Ahad
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Ghaith Abdul-Ahad (born in Baghdad, Iraq, 1975) is an unembedded Iraqi journalist who began working after the U.S. invasion and has written for The Guardian and Washington Post and publish photographs in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Times (London), and other media outlets. Ghaith studied architecture at Baghdad University and had never traveled outside Iraq until after the recent war. As a deserter from Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army, he lived underground in Baghdad for six years, having to change his residence every few months in order to avoid detection and arrest. He began doing street photography in 2001 and determined to document conditions in Baghdad during the war. This aroused suspicion, and he was arrested three days before the end of major combat operations, though he was able to escape by bribing his guards. He has since distinguished himself with a 2005 Amnesty International Media Award, specifically the Gaby Rado Memorial Award (for a journalist at the start of their career). He was one of the last journalists to work in insurgent-held Fallujah before the American assault on that city in April 2004 and he has since continued to cover the front lines of both the Sunni and Shia insurgency movements. Additionally, he worked behind Mehdi Militia front lines during the American assault on Najaf in August of 2004 (Abdul-Ahad et al., 2005).
In September, 2004, Ghaith was wounded by shrapnel to his head when a U.S. helicopter fired rockets into a crowd of civilians on Baghdad's Haifa street. Of the six people seeking shelter from the attack behind a small street kiosk, Ghaith was the sole survivor (Guardian, 09/14/2004).
Ghaith has continued his work with the October, 2005, release of the book Unembedded: Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq which features his photography along with that of Kael Alford, Thorne Anderson and Rita Leistner and documents the daily violence on the streets of Baghdad as well as the inside stories of Iraqi culture.
[edit] References
- Abdul-Ahad, G., K. Alford, T. Anderson, and R. Leistner (2005). Unembedded: Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq. White River Junction: Chelsea Green Publishing. ISBN 1-931498-95-4.
