Huda Ahmed is an Iraqi journalist, currently studying in the United States. She is the recipient of the Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship, sponsored by the International Women’s Media Foundation. She also received a joint fellowship for the 2007-2008 academic year at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) and the Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University.

Ahmed is currently a reporter for McClatchy Newspapers (formerly Knight Ridder Newspapers) in Baghdad, Iraq. Since July 2004, she has assisted in coverage and translation for a wide range of breaking news and feature stories including: the bloody siege of Najaf, Iraq’s historic elections, and corruption in the new Iraqi security forces.

She was recognized by Knight Ridder’s Washington bureau for “extraordinary” bravery in covering combat during the siege of Najaf in Southern Iraq.

Prior to that, she served as a reporter and translator for The Washington Post in Baghdad, where she assisted in covering the search for weapons of mass destruction, looting after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the secret massacre of students during Hussein’s reign, and the abuse of women in the Islamic world among other stories.

Her journalism career began in 1992 when she served as a translator for The Daily Baghdad Observer and Al Jumhurriya Daily, in Baghdad, Iraq. Earlier in her career, she worked as a translator and a high school teacher.

Ahmed, along with 5 other Iraqi journalists from McClatchy’s Baghdad bureau, will receive the International Women’s Media Foundation, Courage in Journalism Award for 2007.

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