Omar Mohammed

Omar Mohammed (Arabic: عمر بن محمد; born 8 April 1986) is an Iraqi historian, citizen journalist, and musician. He is best-known for creating Mosul Eye, an online news blog through which he documented life in the city of Mosul when it was occupied by the Islamic State between 2014 and 2017.[2] He lives in exile, having left Iraq in 2017, and currently maintains the blog from France.[3]

Omar Mohammed
عمر بن محمد‎
Mohammed at the International Journalism Festival in Italy, 2018
Born (1986-04-08) 8 April 1986[1]
Mosul, Iraq
NationalityIraqi (exiled to France)
Alma materUniversity of Mosul
Occupations
Years active2003–present
Websitemosul-eye.org

Early life and education

Mohammed was born in Mosul in 1986, during the Iran–Iraq War, and was raised in the city.[4] He graduated from the University of Mosul in 2012, after defending his dissertation on the French occupation of Egypt. He returned to the university as a professor and taught there until 2014, when it was shut down by the Islamic State.[5]

Iraq War and the Islamic State

'All I could see was blood' is how Omar often described the time he lived in Mosul under the rule of the ISIS.[4] He became widely known for documenting the daily life in Mosul between 2003 and 2018. He still runs his blog from his exile. He traveled around the world to seek support for his city Mosul.[6] A few months before the liberation of Mosul from ISIS, Omar organized a musical on the historical site of prophet Jonah on the east bank of Mosul to defy ISIS with music.

Literary projects

“Let it there be a Book, Rising from the Ashes” is a project launched by Omar Mohammed to preserve the books from the destroyed library of the university of Mosul. The campaign led to preserve more than 32 thousands books and manuscripts.[7] Speaking exclusively to The Independent, the historian said he hopes to collect at least 200,000 books, largely from international donations, to rebuild the university's central library and others across the city.[7] In a phone interview with BuzzFeed News, he revealed very little about himself — "I can tell you I'm not 40 yet" — and insisted on anonymity to protect himself and his loved ones. But he spoke at length about his hopes for the library and why he is so invested in reviving it.

"Whenever I was in the university, I would spend most of my time at the library," he said. "When I didn't like my professors' lectures, I often went to the library to do research and study books on my own."[8]

Creation of Mosul Eye

Access to the internet is still more limited in Mosul compared to the rest of Iraq. While IS did not restrict access to the internet as such, they imposed high taxes on internet providers leaving the city with limited access to this day (See UN Habit Report, 2016). Despite this, a number of growing local online media initiatives are proving to be popular. Ein Al Mosul, or Mosul Eye, was a blog, written anonymously, that documented events in Mosul under the occupation of IS, providing citizens of Mosul and, perhaps even more so, diaspora and the international community with vital information and evidence of IS atrocities.[9] It focuses now on the ‘recovery’ of Mosul, structurally as well as culturally. ‘Mosul Eye was able to not only be a source of information but a social factor in the city’, according to its founder Omar Mohamed (2018 cited in Guardian Podcast, 2018). After the battle, Mosul Eye played a different role, ‘which is to rebuild civil society, trying to support the people who stayed in the city, trying to give them a voice, because they were voiceless’.[10]

Mosul International Campaign

After he fled Mosul in 2015, Mohammed launched a campaign to advocate and bring awareness to the situation in Mosul and Iraq as a whole. He has travelled to various countries, including the United States and Russia, to make speeches and participate in talks, while lecturing and advocating at universities, institutes, and other global venues.[11] His mission is to "put Mosul on the global map" as stated in his public speeches. He has been hosted by many international universities and governments.[12] Mohammed has also, on different occasions, advocated for Mosul to be put under international trusteeship to protect the local populace.[13][14][15]

Personal life

As of 2020, Mohammed lives in Paris and is unable to return to Mosul.[16] His brother was killed by an airstrike during the Battle of Mosul, when the Iraqi government retook the city from the Islamic State.[17] He is a fan of Israeli-American violinist Itzhak Perlman.[18] He appeared in the 2020 British documentary film Once Upon a Time in Iraq, in which he describes his experiences during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Iraq War and the Iraqi insurgency, and the Second Iraq War, particularly detailing aspects of the occupation of Mosul by the Islamic State between 2014 and 2017.

Published works

1- The history of the French expedition on Egypt in the writings of Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti, Jordan 2013.[19]

Omar has produced several documents but they are still unpublished manuscripts:

1- Annals of Mosul from 2003 to 2014. Unpublished manuscript.[5] 2- The Chronicles of Mosul under the rule of the Islamic State.Unpublished manuscript.[2]

The manuscript covers the history of Mosul from June 6, 2014 when ISIS occupied Mosul to July 2017 when the city was liberated.

3- the Wonders of Mosul's recovery and its surrounding areas.

Is a historical document written by Omar documenting the daily recovery of Mosul since its libration in 2017.

4- Al Tarikh al 'Umari fi 'Imār al jāmi al Nuri wa yalih-i 'Imar Kanisat-ul Sa'a wa-T Tahira'[20] 5- Al 'Anfas al Mahbusa fi 'aldifaa' 'an al Mawsil al mahrusa "The Caged Breaths in Defending the Protected Mosul". Unpublished manuscript.

The front cover of the manuscript reads: "This is a declaration of what the humble to his god's mercy, Omar b. Mohammed al Mawsili in his exile (.... text removed) on his daily observation in (text removed) and other countries in defending of his hometown Mosul and its people to create a better future for his watan and protect its nation, may god protect it against all its enemies until god makes his return to Mosul possible"

References
  1. "Mid-East Junction - What lies behind Mosul Eye". RFI. 26 February 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  2. "Chronicler of Islamic State 'killing machine' goes public". AP NEWS. 8 December 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  3. Adar, Shaul. "The man who risked everything to report from IS-controlled Mosul". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  4. Earshot, Fiona Pepper for (6 June 2019). "'The normal day, you would see beheadings': Why Omar risked his life to expose IS atrocities". ABC News. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  5. Nordlinger, Jay (2 July 2018). "Trust No One, Document Everything". National Review. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  6. "Omar Mohammed | Yale Greenberg World Fellows". worldfellows.yale.edu. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  7. "How the last librarian of Mosul is preparing for when his city is free from Isis". The Independent. 20 March 2017. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  8. "This Man Is Trying To Rebuild A Library Burned Down By ISIS". BuzzFeed News. 4 July 2017. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  9. Lamble, Presented by Lucy; Stephens, produced by Danielle; Ames, Lily (26 September 2018). "The Mosul historian who risked his life to blog about life under Isis – podcast". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  10. Al-Kaisy, Aida (2020), Matthews, Jamie; Thorsen, Einar (eds.), "Media and Reconciliation: A Study of Media-Led Initiatives in Post-IS Mosul", Media, Journalism and Disaster Communities, Springer International Publishing, pp. 147–162, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-33712-4_10, ISBN 978-3-030-33712-4, S2CID 216241593
  11. "Mosul after ISIS: A Conversation with Omar Mohammed". gwtoday.gwu.edu. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  12. "Mosul Eye". Mosul Eye. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  13. Eye, Mosul (19 October 2016). "The Demand for International Trusteeship for Mosul". Mosul Eye. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  14. "Irakischer Blogger "Mosul Eye": "Wir sind so müde, Terror hier, Terror da" - derStandard.at". DER STANDARD (in Austrian German). Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  15. "'I never imagined I would live through such moments of fear' - Iraqi blogger Omar Muhammad discusses life under ISIS". Weekly News & Analysis. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  16. Adar, Shaul. "The man who risked everything to report from IS-controlled Mosul". www.timesofisrael.com.
  17. "Chronicler of Islamic State 'killing machine' goes public". AP NEWS. 8 December 2017.
  18. "Extraordinary". National Review. 2 July 2018. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  19. محمد, عمر جاسم (2014). العين الغائبة (in Arabic). ktab INC.
  20. الموصل, Mosul Eye عين (14 October 2019). "Under this tweet you will follow daily updates of the reconstruction of al Nuri Mosque. I called it "Al Tarikh al 'Umari fi 'Imār al jāmi al Nuri wa yalih-i 'Imar Kanisat-ul Sa'a wa-T Tahira. By Umar b. Muhammed al Mawsili This is my mission until the reopening of the Mosque.pic.twitter.com/MNHioWwTiX". @MosulEye. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
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