Ghaith Abdul-Ahad

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, freelance photojournalist, is a contributor photographer for Getty Images, and a feature writer for the Guardian. He is the receipient of the 2008 British Press Awards for Foreign Reporter of the Year. His images from war-ravaged Iraq were compiled into the book, Unembedded: Four Independent Journalists on the War in Iraq (Chelsea Green, 2005), along with three other independent photojournalists, Kael Alford, Thorne Anderson and Rita Leistner. Ghaith Abdul-Ahad studied architecture at Baghdad University. A deserter from Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi army, he lived underground in Baghdad for six years, changing his residence every few months to avoid detection and arrest. He began working as a journalist after the U.S.-led invasion and his photographs have been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Times (London), Stern magazine, and other media outlets. He was one of the last journalists to work in Fallujah during the first US siege of the city in April 2004. He also worked in Najaf during the US assault on the city in August of the same year. He has continued his work, photographing for international publications, and documenting the Iraqi life under US occupation. He is currently based in Lebanon and works from all over the Middle East. His writing has appeared in the Guardian and The Washington Post. Five years after the war he produced a series of short films from Baghdad for the Guardian Films and ITV.