Karam Alhamad

Karam AlHamad is a human rights activist, a petroleum engineering student, and most of all a free spirit who is bonded to his camera as a freelance photojournalist. Karam’s specialization focuses on activism through citizen journalism to raise the voices of the victims of the war in Syria and empower the Syrian narrative.

He has developed a safety net for journalists to work in conflict areas in Syria by building capacity for information security. Karam’s activism and political involvement for a democratic transformation in Syria led to his imprisonment four times and for over a year by the Assad regime, during which he was brutally tortured. Despite these grave setbacks, he returned to his camera and activism immediately upon his release to continue pursuing his dream of a free Syria.

Karam was the Director of the Media Office in Deir Ezzor, Syria. His passion for media has given him extensive experience as a freelance photographer picked up by Reuters, as well as a variety of magazines and local newspapers. He was also active in the Local Council of the city Deir Ezzor, among the first democratic institutions to arise in Syria, lending Karam experience in grassroots organizing.

Karam's unimpeded desire to forge democratic change led to his acceptance into a fellowship in the US through the Middle East Peace Initiative program, Leaders for Democracy.

He escaped Syria under threat from both the regime and ISIS and worked to provide media support for the Syrian Interim Government while continuously maintaining contact with civil society groups inside Syria.

While Karam has mainly focused his skills on helping the Syrian cause and seeking an end to the civil war and destruction in Syria, he is also committed to humanity as a whole, and believes a crisis to the extent it is taking place in in Syria is a threat to the entire international community and humanity as a whole.