Taysir Alluni, who began his career as an Arabic translator for a news agency in Granada, Spain, is credited as being the only journalist based in Afghanistan in October 2001 to show the world what the US war machine was doing to one of the world's poorest countries.By then working for Aljazeera, Alluni was able to capture images of civilian victims in the destitute villages of Afghanistan and the miserable streets of Kabul.
[...]
Alluni left Kabul shortly before his office was bombed, following the Taliban retreat and reporting on it. Much of what he witnessed was too distressing to show and he was himself assaulted. "Scenes that, I'm sorry, I could not describe to anybody," he said.
Beaten and mugged, Alluni has not said who attacked him but described the incident as leaving him "in deep psychological shock".
[...]
Despite his deteriorating health, Alluni headed to Baghdad in the second week of the US war on Iraq in March 2003 on his next assignment.
While reporting there, he once more narrowly escaped a US bombardment. That he survived the US bombing of the Aljazeera Baghdad bureau is little short of a miracle.
[...]
When US President George Bush officially declared the Iraq war over, Alluni chose Spain as his destination for a holiday, thinking that his Spanish citizenship would help him avoid harassment and facilitate his movements.
His hopes proved to be unfounded. Syrian-born Alluni, a father of five, was arrested in September 2003 at his home in Granada.
His wife, Fatima al-Zahra, told Aljazeera that her husband was arrested under the pretext of misusing his position as a journalist to carry out an interview with Usama bin Ladin, during which the latter called for jihad (holy war).
Alluni was bailed on medical grounds about a month later. He has a serious heart condition.
However, he was re-arrested in November 2003 for fear he may flee the country while awaiting trial.
He remains behind bars.
Aljazeera article
Taysir Alluni
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