REPORTER: Aaron Lewis
A bomb has just exploded. and Iraqi journalist Fouad Hady is running with his camera towards the chaos. Baghdad is now so dangerous that most foreign journalists are confined to the Green Zone but as an Iraqi, Fouad is free to walk the streets.
MAN, (Translation): Clear the area! Clear the area!
MAN, (Translation): They were in the Volkswagen, as we drove by it exploded. People were in the Volkswagen.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): How many?
MAN, (Translation): I dont know, one or two.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): A car bomb?
MAN, (Translation): Yes a car bomb.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): What happened?
OLD MAN, (Translation): They are bastards! All of them! There is no proper government to get rid of these bastards!
The bomb was detonated outside a girls' school in a Shi'ite-controlled neighbourhood where Fouad was filming. The explosion killed 2, wounded 25, and left the entire neighbourhood confused and afraid.
GIRLS, (Translation): A car bomb exploded in front of our school and the glass fell on us.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): They are targeting education? Why would they do that?
GIRLS, (Translation): I don't know what they want from us. Saddam is gone.
Fouad Hady was born in Baghdad but migrated to Australia in 1998. I first met him in his Melbourne home.
REPORTER: How would you describe the mood on the streets of Baghdad today?
FOUAD HADY: People there are really angry. They want resolution. They want to live. They want electricity. They want water. They want food. They want save their life.
While filming in Baghdad, Fouad met Sarah Hamdne. She was shot four times while shopping at a street market for a school uniform. She was with her mother, sister Elaf, and her grandmother. A friend told her father, Ali, to rush to the hospital but he didn't know what to expect. When he found Sarah bleeding badly, he assumed that his wife had let their daughter out to play in the dangerous streets of Baghdad.
ALI HAMDNE, SARAHS FATHER (Translation): I found Sarah lying soaked in blood, on her face, hair, eye, all over her body. I started screaming, "Where's my wife, it's her fault! She's causing me this grief. Bring me my wife!" But my wife was dead. My wife was killed. They are terrorists, they have no heart, no conscience.
Sarah and her family were deliberately targeted. Ali Hamdne had been working as an interpreter for a South African company, and a few months before the shooting he had received a death threat from al-Qa'ida.
ALI HAMDNE, (Translation): They once sent a threatening letter to my house. They said, "Leave your job with this company" or we will target you and your family. I thought, how am I going to leave work and support my children in these difficult times? People were suffering, unable to find work. The end result is that I paid a dear price. My wife was killed and two of my children have been disabled.
Since the attack, Ali and his family have gone into hiding, convinced that he is still a marked man. He's also had to leave his job to care for his daughters.
FOUAD HADY: He doesn't have money to buy food. He doesn't have money to buy food for children. He just buy eggs. That's easy for him.
ELAF, (Translation): I like milk with eggs. But I love eggs with milk.
Elaf is eight years old. She can't leave the family hideout and so she spends her time drawing pictures of pretty houses and happy families. Her mother was an artist and taught the girls to draw.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): You're painting?
ELAF, (Translation): A house.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): Why a house?
ELFA, (Translation): A house would have a garden. It would have roses, and trees.
Elaf now acts the part of mother for her two sisters.
ELAF, (Translation): We bought the watermelon and as soon as Mum cut the first piece for me we were shot at like this. A bullet went through here and came out from here. Sarah was also hit, and it went through her. Mariam wasn't hit because Mum was hugging her. Mum was hit here and the bullet came out here. My grandmother was shot in front of me. The bullet hit her here and it came out here.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): Did she die?
ELAF, (Translation): Yes.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): Why did they do that?
ELAF, (Translation): Why did they do that? I don't know. They just came to shoot and kill people.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): What would you say to those who did this to you? Don't they fear God?
ELAF, (Translation): That's right, they don't fear God. May God kill them and send them to hell.
The future is particularly bleak for Sarah because the bullets smashed through her ovaries, meaning she can never have children a shameful state for a woman in Iraqi society.
ALI HAMDNE, (Translation): She went through excruciating child, but what she will suffer in the future as a result of this incident. She's like a girl who's lost her femininity, her virginity. She won't be able to have children.
Sarah must frequently return to the hospital to treat her injuries, which include wounds to her leg and head.
ALI HAMDNE, (Translation): This is the latest operation she's had. She had a serious injury here too. I don't know its severity, they haven't examined her yet. I don't know, the skull is fractured.
As Fouad finishes his filming with Sarah, he sees a coffin being carried to the hospital morgue. Inside is the body of one of Fouad's colleagues. Amjad Hamid was the chief of Iraqiya Television and had just been shot in front of his home.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): Mr Amjad, the director of Al-Iraqiya Channel was attacked by terrorists. He was killed and his driver is in critical condition. This is his body?
REPORTER: Why was he shot?
FOUAD HADY: Well, as I said to you, they don't want intelligent people. They don't want intelligent people. We will die. Everyone have knowledge will die in Baghdad, especially in Baghdad. They want to destroy Iraq.
The scale of the violence is now so great that a sense of hopelessness pervades Baghdad. Ali is Sunni but his wife is buried in a Shia cemetery at Najaf. Because of growing sectarian violence, Sarah cannot even visit her mother's grave.
SARAH, (Translation): I want to go to Mum. I want to go to her, to see her. In Najaf.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): Where is she buried? In Najaf?
SARAH, (Translation): Yes.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): That would be difficult for you, wouldn't it?
SARAH, (Translation): Of course.
Filmed and Co-written by
FOUAD HADY
Co-written by
AARON LEWIS
Fixers
AYAD HADY
HASSAN HADY
Editor
WAYNE LOVE
NICK OBRIEN
Subtitling
JOSEPH ABDO
Producer
MARTIN BUTLER
A bomb has just exploded. and Iraqi journalist Fouad Hady is running with his camera towards the chaos. Baghdad is now so dangerous that most foreign journalists are confined to the Green Zone but as an Iraqi, Fouad is free to walk the streets.
MAN, (Translation): Clear the area! Clear the area!
MAN, (Translation): They were in the Volkswagen, as we drove by it exploded. People were in the Volkswagen.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): How many?
MAN, (Translation): I dont know, one or two.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): A car bomb?
MAN, (Translation): Yes a car bomb.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): What happened?
OLD MAN, (Translation): They are bastards! All of them! There is no proper government to get rid of these bastards!
The bomb was detonated outside a girls' school in a Shi'ite-controlled neighbourhood where Fouad was filming. The explosion killed 2, wounded 25, and left the entire neighbourhood confused and afraid.
GIRLS, (Translation): A car bomb exploded in front of our school and the glass fell on us.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): They are targeting education? Why would they do that?
GIRLS, (Translation): I don't know what they want from us. Saddam is gone.
Fouad Hady was born in Baghdad but migrated to Australia in 1998. I first met him in his Melbourne home.
REPORTER: How would you describe the mood on the streets of Baghdad today?
FOUAD HADY: People there are really angry. They want resolution. They want to live. They want electricity. They want water. They want food. They want save their life.
While filming in Baghdad, Fouad met Sarah Hamdne. She was shot four times while shopping at a street market for a school uniform. She was with her mother, sister Elaf, and her grandmother. A friend told her father, Ali, to rush to the hospital but he didn't know what to expect. When he found Sarah bleeding badly, he assumed that his wife had let their daughter out to play in the dangerous streets of Baghdad.
ALI HAMDNE, SARAHS FATHER (Translation): I found Sarah lying soaked in blood, on her face, hair, eye, all over her body. I started screaming, "Where's my wife, it's her fault! She's causing me this grief. Bring me my wife!" But my wife was dead. My wife was killed. They are terrorists, they have no heart, no conscience.
Sarah and her family were deliberately targeted. Ali Hamdne had been working as an interpreter for a South African company, and a few months before the shooting he had received a death threat from al-Qa'ida.
ALI HAMDNE, (Translation): They once sent a threatening letter to my house. They said, "Leave your job with this company" or we will target you and your family. I thought, how am I going to leave work and support my children in these difficult times? People were suffering, unable to find work. The end result is that I paid a dear price. My wife was killed and two of my children have been disabled.
Since the attack, Ali and his family have gone into hiding, convinced that he is still a marked man. He's also had to leave his job to care for his daughters.
FOUAD HADY: He doesn't have money to buy food. He doesn't have money to buy food for children. He just buy eggs. That's easy for him.
ELAF, (Translation): I like milk with eggs. But I love eggs with milk.
Elaf is eight years old. She can't leave the family hideout and so she spends her time drawing pictures of pretty houses and happy families. Her mother was an artist and taught the girls to draw.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): You're painting?
ELAF, (Translation): A house.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): Why a house?
ELFA, (Translation): A house would have a garden. It would have roses, and trees.
Elaf now acts the part of mother for her two sisters.
ELAF, (Translation): We bought the watermelon and as soon as Mum cut the first piece for me we were shot at like this. A bullet went through here and came out from here. Sarah was also hit, and it went through her. Mariam wasn't hit because Mum was hugging her. Mum was hit here and the bullet came out here. My grandmother was shot in front of me. The bullet hit her here and it came out here.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): Did she die?
ELAF, (Translation): Yes.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): Why did they do that?
ELAF, (Translation): Why did they do that? I don't know. They just came to shoot and kill people.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): What would you say to those who did this to you? Don't they fear God?
ELAF, (Translation): That's right, they don't fear God. May God kill them and send them to hell.
The future is particularly bleak for Sarah because the bullets smashed through her ovaries, meaning she can never have children a shameful state for a woman in Iraqi society.
ALI HAMDNE, (Translation): She went through excruciating child, but what she will suffer in the future as a result of this incident. She's like a girl who's lost her femininity, her virginity. She won't be able to have children.
Sarah must frequently return to the hospital to treat her injuries, which include wounds to her leg and head.
ALI HAMDNE, (Translation): This is the latest operation she's had. She had a serious injury here too. I don't know its severity, they haven't examined her yet. I don't know, the skull is fractured.
As Fouad finishes his filming with Sarah, he sees a coffin being carried to the hospital morgue. Inside is the body of one of Fouad's colleagues. Amjad Hamid was the chief of Iraqiya Television and had just been shot in front of his home.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): Mr Amjad, the director of Al-Iraqiya Channel was attacked by terrorists. He was killed and his driver is in critical condition. This is his body?
REPORTER: Why was he shot?
FOUAD HADY: Well, as I said to you, they don't want intelligent people. They don't want intelligent people. We will die. Everyone have knowledge will die in Baghdad, especially in Baghdad. They want to destroy Iraq.
The scale of the violence is now so great that a sense of hopelessness pervades Baghdad. Ali is Sunni but his wife is buried in a Shia cemetery at Najaf. Because of growing sectarian violence, Sarah cannot even visit her mother's grave.
SARAH, (Translation): I want to go to Mum. I want to go to her, to see her. In Najaf.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): Where is she buried? In Najaf?
SARAH, (Translation): Yes.
FOUAD HADY, (Translation): That would be difficult for you, wouldn't it?
SARAH, (Translation): Of course.
Filmed and Co-written by
FOUAD HADY
Co-written by
AARON LEWIS
Fixers
AYAD HADY
HASSAN HADY
Editor
WAYNE LOVE
NICK OBRIEN
Subtitling
JOSEPH ABDO
Producer
MARTIN BUTLER