Ayad Ali Brissam Karim, após o ataque norte-americano ao Iraque

Ayad Ali Brissam Karim was born in Baghdad in 1991. In 2003, during the Gulf War, the farm of his parents gets into the frontline and is attacked by US-American helicopters. His uncle Mohammad loses his leg. His grandmother Telba is injured, too, when trying to help Ayad. Ayad’s face is badly burnt and his right eye becomes blind.

“He left school because the other boys teased him”, says his 42-year old father, Ali Brissam Karim. “He can speak, however, he cannot read. He cannot help us with field work.”

Worse than the physical injuries are the psychological consequences. „Many times a day he asks the same question and becomes aggressive for no obvious reason“, his mother says. In the meantime, Ayad has undergone medical treatment in the US, however, his eyesight could not be recovered.

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O fotógrafo brasileiro Maurício Lima (AFP) ficou em segundo lugar na escolha desta "foto do ano 2005" do Unicef alemão. Sua foto mostra o menino Ayad Ali Brissam Karim, que sofreu queimaduras graves no rosto, durante um ataque norte-americano nas proximidades da cidade da Babilônia, no Iraque, em 2003.

Foto: Maurício Lima, Brazil / Agence France Press