Mazen Dana
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Mazen Dana (1962-August 17, 2003) was a Palestinian journalist who worked as a Reuters cameraman and was shot by United States soldiers in Baghdad, Iraq on August 17, 2003. The soldiers mistook his camera for a rocket launcher.
Mazen Dana was filming outside Abu Ghraib Prison after obtaining permission from US authorities. Days before his death, Dana had filmed a mass grave constructed by U.S. soldiers to bury other U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. He had also filmed U.S. soldiers covered in plastic bags in remote areas of the desert. Due to his filming of these sites, an Islamic news source suggests some believe that U.S. forces targeted Dana and murdered him despite his wearing a press badge and that the car he was driving identified him as a member of the press.[1]
Dana worked for Reuters for over ten years, mostly in his home town of Hebron on the West Bank.
In 2001, Dana was awarded the Committee to Protect Journalists' International Press Freedom Award in recognition of his courage and commitment to covering the conflict in his hometown. He was married with four children.
