Ahmed Ali worked as a journalist and translator for the major British newspaper The Daily Telegraph from 2003 to 2006, when he was forced into hiding for his coverage of the political situation in Iraq, for his cooperation with foreigners, and for his sharp criticism of the insurgency. Following the kidnapping and presumed murder of his brother-in-law, Ali and his family fled Iraq to Syria. PEN’s Larry Siems met Ali in Damascus in December 2006 and shortly thereafter initiated efforts to bring him and several other Iraqi writers, journalists, and translators living in hiding in Syria to safe havens in the United States.