Mohamed Al-Daradji

Mohamed Al-Darraji (Arabic: محمد الدراجي) (born 6 August 1978 in Baghdad, Iraq) is an Iraqi-Dutch film director.

He is known for his drama films, which focus on political affairs in the Middle East and their effects on interpersonal relationships.

His aunt had lost a son in the Iran–Iraq War, and he cites her grief as a motivation for his films, which address both the terrible suffering and the hopefulness for the future felt by many Iraqis.

The captors were preparing to shoot them before they fled from the sound of police sirens.

On the same day, they were said to have been abducted again from a Baghdad hospital by another group of gunmen who beat them up and then turned them over to the U.S. military, who held them in harsh conditions for six days on the suspicion that they were filming insurgent attacks for Al Qaida.