'Couldn't believe my eyes'
I have covered bombings and attacks in Mogadishu for years, but this one was completely different. You probably think that after years of photographing death and destruction, the attacks would stop affecting me. But it’s not true. When I got to where it happened, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
I was playing football when the car bomb went off. It wasn’t far from where I was. I heard a boom and I saw smoke rising into the air. So I did what I usually do. I ran for my camera. I usually always have my camera with me, but when I play football, I leave it in a house a block away. Otherwise, it can get stolen. But it’s just a block away, two minutes. So I ran to grab it and then I ran to the scene.
Continue reading on AFP Correspondent
Remembering Iraq's Jews
Iraqi-Kurdish photo artist Jamal Penjweny’s newest project envisions a new chapter in the history of Iraq’s Jews.
In less than four years, from 1947 to 1951, most of Iraq’s Jews left their homes and moved to Israel. Their presence in Iraqi society has since been forgotten, intentionally or unintentionally, by many. But one man in Qal’at Saleh, a small town in south-eastern Iraq, keeps the memory alive.
Ahmad, the manager and guardian of a school in Qal’at Saleh, is proud to show each visitor the school records from 1925 and onwards, which he has preserved and keeps precisely archived.
Continue reading on Mashallah News
Iran jails artists for promoting alternative music
Two Iranian brothers – a musician and a filmmaker – began serving their three-year prison sentence at Tehran’s Evin Prison on Sunday, June 5.
Mehdi Rajabian, a musician and founder of BargMusic, and his brother Hossein Rajabian, an independent filmmaker, were arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in October 2013, along with a third artist, Yousef Emadi, the manager of BargMusic.
After spending two months in solitary confinement, the three artists were released on a bail of $67,000 each. During their time in detention, they were allegedly pressured to confess.
Continue reading on IranWire
