Freelance War Photographers: On Their Own in Danger Zones

By: Jackie Spinner | AJR

Photojournalist Ahmed Deeb was anxious to get inside the Syrian city of Kobani earlier this month. Few journalists had been able to report or take photos inside the besieged city on the border with Turkey since the Islamic State surrounded it in October.

Deeb, a Palestinian from Gaza who has been photographing the war in Syria since 2012, said he thought he had the necessary permission to enter from Turkey. But then soldiers from the Syrian Kurdish forces protecting the town turned on him, beating him and taking his equipment. Uninjured, he was sent back to Turkey without his gear.