Qaboun Media Center
February 17, 2013, in Qaboun, Damascus, Syria

Al-Hamwi died of shrapnel wounds he sustained while filming government shelling of the Qaboun district of Damascus on February 5, according to local news reports and the Beirut-based press freedom organization Samir Kassir Foundation.

He was hit in the eye by a piece of shrapnel in the mortar strike, the reports said. He was hospitalized in a coma for almost two weeks before he died.

The journalist, who was also popularly known as "Ghias Shami," began filming and documenting the conflict in Syria when the uprising began in March 2011, news reports said. He covered protests and clashes between the Syrian government and rebel forces.

Al-Hamwi contributed footage to the Qaboun Media Center, a group of opposition citizen journalists who film clashes in the neighborhood of Qaboun and publish the unattributed videos online. The center has published hundreds of videos since it established its YouTube account in July 2011. Its videos have been broadcast by local and international news outlets, including the New York Times, Al-Jazeera, and the Daily Mail.

Al-Hamwi was arrested in May 2012 and spent approximately nine months at an Air Force Intelligence Branch prison near Damascus, local reports said. He graduated from the School of Journalism at Damascus University.

Medium:Internet
Job:Broadcast Reporter, Camera Operator
Beats Covered:Human Rights, War
Gender:Male
Local or Foreign:Local
Freelance:Yes
Type of Death:Crossfire/Combat-Related
Suspected Source of Fire:Military Officials

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