Namir Noor-Eldeen
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Namir Noor-Eldeen | |
|---|---|
| نمير نورالدين | |
 | |
| Born | September 1, 1984 |
| Died | July 12, 2007 (aged 22) Baghdad al-Jidida, Iraq |
| Cause of death | Armor-piercing shell |
| Occupation | Photojournalist |
| Employer | Reuters International |
Namir Noor-Eldeen (Arabic: نمير نورالدين; September 1, 1984 – July 12, 2007) was an Iraqi war photographer for Reuters. Noor-Eldeen, his assistant, Saeed Chmagh, as well as eight others were fired upon by U.S. military forces in the New Baghdad district of Baghdad, Iraq, during an airstrike on July 12, 2007.[1]
It is claimed in an official report from the U.S. Department of the Army that the group of 10 was carrying at least one RPG-7 and one AK-47, in addition to the fact that Noor-Eldeen's camera and attached zoom lens likely were mistaken for an additional RPG.[2] Noor-Eldeen and seven others were killed during the first strike.
Noor-Eldeen was born on September 1, 1984, in Mosul, Iraq.[3][4] He developed an interest in photography and video from his family, and started training in those crafts. He was one of the first photographers trained by the Reuters news agency as part of a strategy to employ photojournalists with strong local knowledge and access to areas considered too dangerous for Western photographers to work in. Chris Helgren, former Reuters chief photographer who instigated the agency's plan, called Noor-Eldeen one of the star recruits of the initial recruitment stage, and said, "In Mosul, he started from nothing and is now the pre-eminent photographer in Northern Iraq."[5]
He originally worked in Mosul,[6] where he started to develop a strong reputation from his photos and his tendency to arrive at the scene of attacks quickly, even amid danger. One of his photos, of a masked insurgent carrying a RPG-7 and a police flak jacket after a November 2004 police station attack, gained particular attention and was described by New York Times journalist Michael Kamber as "one of the seminal images of the war—a single photo that captured Iraq's descent into chaos and the inability of the Iraqi and American governments to protect resources, or pretty much anything else at that point".[7] Noor-Eldeen was transferred to Baghdad after he started receiving threats in Mosul from insurgents unhappy with his photos.[6][7] During his time as a photographer, he had been shot in the leg, had his nose broken more than once, and had been detained and harassed, but his editors said he maintained a sense of energy and optimism.[4]
