“Swiss stun grenade case to conclude on Friday” – National Union of Journalists.

From the National Union of Journalists, “A six-year fight for justice by photojournalist Guy Smallman will come to a conclusion in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Friday 20 November. Click here to read more.

Click here for background to the story.

Update 20.11.09: Guy has just told me – we are both here at NUJ ADM – that he has won his six-year fight for justice!

IMAGES BEFORE (above) and after (below) an operation of injuries sustained by photojournalist Guy Smallman after he was hit by a stun grenade whilst covering a protest outside a G8 summit in Geneva in June 2003. Published here by kind permission of the NUJ.

HERAT CITY , AFGHANISTAN – Noria Barkot with her father. She was injured in the attack on Granai Village. Published here by kind permission of Guy Smallman/guysmallman.com. (c) Guy Smallman, 2009.

“The enemy has the momentum in Afghanistan” – Channel 4 News.

“The innocent are always caught up” – Channel 4 News.

“New footage of deadly Afghan bombing” – Channel 4 News.

“Villagers’ legacy of pain from US air raid” – Guy Smallman, Financial Times.

“Afghans’ legacy of pain from US air raid” – Guy Smallman, Financial Times.

My friend and colleague Guy Smallman is back from working in Afghanistan – and with a world exclusive. He visited the Afghan village of Granai in which a US air strike killed 147 civilians in May of this year, the highest number of civilian casualties since the Afghanistan conflict began. Click on the links above to read Guy’s report and view his pictures and to watch the Channel 4 News report as well – which was the lead story last night.

GRANAI, AFGHANISTAN – On May 4th 2009 Granai Village in the Bala Baluk area of Farah province was the subject of air strikes by Coalition Forces. 147 civilians were killed making the single biggest loss of life since the war began in 2001. Published here by kind permission of Guy Smallman/guysmallman.com. (c) Guy Smallman, 2009.

Below is Guy’s previous investigation from Afghanistan – which was published in the Financial Times magazine in December last year.

Publication: 6/7 December 2008, Financial Times magazine.

“The Afghan man squatting in front of us in the former Soviet cultural centre in Kabul was oblivious to our presence. In his right hand he clung to a scorched piece of tinfoil. He was about 20, and rocked slowly backwards and forwards, not registering the questions being put to him by Khalid, my interpreter. Eventually we gave up, leaving him to his heroin-induced daze amid the rubble and used syringes. Lenin looked down from a decaying mural behind him.”

“Kabul’s lost tribe” – Guy Smallman, Financial Times.

Publication: 6/7 December 2008, Financial Times magazine.

Publication: 6/7 December 2008, Financial Times magazine.

Today the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has released a video and photographs that show British photojournalist Guy Smallman being blown up by a stun grenade thrown by a Geneva police officer in 2003.

Only last month Guy wrote a very personal account of a visit to a accident and emergency room in Kabul. Afghanistan here on this blog (same leg).

The images the NUJ has released today will form part of an appeal by Guy Smallman against a Swiss court ruling that police were not to blame for the injuries he suffered while covering protests outside a G8 summit in June 2003. The appeal is being formally lodged with the Swiss authorities this week.

To read more click here.

Images before (above) and after (below) an operation of injuries sustained by photojournalist Guy Smallman after he was hit by a stun grenade whilst covering a protest outside a G8 summit in Geneva in June 2003.  Published here by kind permission of the NUJ.

I’m going to be one of the speakers at Under Siege – Islam, War And The Media a half-day conference hosted by Media Workers Against the War this weekend.

The conference is being held a the London School of Economics (Map) and starts at 2pm and you can buy your ticket here.   Speakers include Peter Oborne and Nick Davies and  many more.  The event is open to all and not just media workers.

The workshop I will be speaking at is called Photojournalism and the “war on terror“ .  Jason N.Parkinson and I will be showing Press Freedom: Collateral Damage and then we will do a Q&A afterwards.  Also in this workshop Guy Smallman who has just returned from Afghanistan will be showing a set of images from that trip.

Today we hand over the Blog to photojournalist Guy Smallman on his very personal account of a visit to the accident and emergency room at a Kabul hospital in Afghanistan last month.

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – September 2008. Photojournalist Guy Smallman being treated at a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan September 2008.  Published here by kind permission of Guy Smallman 2008.  (c) Guy Smallman 2008.

“I got injured on a shoot in Afghanistan.”  Sounds dramatic, but the reality was actually quite mundane.  Our car slid of a gravel road in one of Kabul’s suburbs.  A back-wheel drive, the rear right hand tyre was spinning in a pothole unable to get the grip required to move the vehicle forward.  So we kicked a selection of rocks and pebbles into the hole and got behind to push.  As the driver hit the gas the wheel spun one of the rocks straight into my shin and in a moment my trousers, trainer and sock were covered in claret pissing out of a deep cut.

Ghani my interpreter insisted that we go to a local hospital to get the wound properly cleaned and stitched.  I needed little persuasion after he went on to say that infections here often led to amputation.

A jovial Afghan Doctor commended my bravery as he snipped some fatty tissue from the wound and deep cleaned it with iodine solution.  I pointed out through Ghani that my failure to register any pain was due to the massive nerve damage sustained to my leg on a job in 2003.  The Doctor surveyed the 5 year old blast injury to the rear of my calf and asked if I got it here? Or maybe somewhere like Palestine? Or Iraq?  I then had to explain that I was blown off my feet in Switzerland by a Police concussion grenade while covering an anti G8 protest.

Immediately I became the laughing stock of Kabul A&E as the nurses, porters and even some of the other patients relatives filed through my room to laugh at the funny Englishman who got injured by an explosion in a country that has been at peace for 500 years.  As if I didn’t already have enough reasons to hate the cops in Geneva…

(c) Guy Smallman 2008.

“Press Freedom and Safety” – International Federation of Journalists.

Note: And back in the UK Guy Smallman was bitten by a police attack dog which required medical attention when covering a protest last week.

PRINT ABOVE: Jason N. Parkinson (right) prior to experiencing the simple delights of German police chemical warfare. (c) Guy Smallman, 2007.

Today we hand over the Blog to photojournalist Guy Smallman for a report on the media, police and the G8.

On June 7th London Freelance Branch member Jason N. Parkinson was reporting an attempt by anti-G8 protesters to blockade the west entrance of the summit in Heiligendamm, East Germany. Over a thousand demonstrators were attempting to breach the defences. Then nearby, police began to beat a dreadlocked protester who had strayed too close to their line. Jason raised his video camera to film the proceedings only to find himself under attack. Without warning a policeman in full riot gear stepped out of his line and pepper sprayed him in the eyes. He was left blind and in agony for over half an hour, his eyes and the surrounding skin were badly burnt by the chemicals.

There was no possible excuse for this. The police had been in control of the situation and Jason was very clearly a journalist wearing the highly visible, bright yellow official accreditation of the G8 Summit. Later that evening his footage, which graphically captured the incident, was used by More 4 News to prove that the police had overstepped the mark. He is now seeking legal advice.

Although an outrage, occurrences like this were thankfully very rare. On the whole the German authorities facilitated the media during the summit with impeccable efficiency. Despite over 14,000 police being drafted in from all corners of Germany they were all well briefed in how to deal with journalists. For once we were treated as working professionals observing the situation rather than participants, or being in the way. Press cards of every description were recognised and those who were tasked with covering the G8 and the surrounding mayhem generally found the police to be courteous and helpful. Far more in fact, than our own Met officers here in London. At the NUJ photographers conference a few weeks back, Commander Broadhurst of the Met made all kinds of promises on behalf of his officers which have yet to be kept.

Perhaps he could send them to Deutschland for training on how to deal with the media?

PRINT ABOVE: A still from Jason’s film footage which was shown by More 4 News. Published here by kind permission of Jason Parkinson. (c) Jason Parkinson, 2007.