True Spies: Espionage | Investigation | Crime | Murder | Detective | Politics True Spies Debrief: Ayman Oghanna on Mental Health, China, And The Spy Next Door
Oct 6, 2026
Ayman Oghanna is a conflict journalist and photographer who has reported from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine. He discusses warzone reporting, bipolar disorder and the blurred line between delusion and surveillance. His investigation into an alleged Chinese spy in his Athens apartment building opens onto NATO secrets, Piraeus, LinkedIn recruitment and espionage hiding in plain sight.
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The Film That Sent Ayman Oghanna To Iraq
- Ayman Oghanna chose conflict journalism after watching The Killing Fields at school.
- A BBC producer advised him to go where news was plentiful and journalists were scarce, leading him to Iraq in 2009.
The Photograph That Changed His Journalism
- During a Baghdad car bombing, Ayman Oghanna photographed a bloodied girl whose mother had just been killed.
- The images reached The New York Times front page, but he later questioned whether taking them was ethical.
When Warzone Adrenaline Became Psychosis
- After returning from Iraq in a manic state, Ayman Oghanna believed spies were pursuing him and threatened police with a chair.
- Police detained him before he was sectioned and diagnosed with bipolar I disorder.
