Jönköping County welcomes Iraqi scriptwriter, rapper, songwriter, actor, and satirist Aymen Hameed as its fourth ICORN resident
In July 2025, Jönköping County welcomed Aymen Hameed for a two-year ICORN residency. Hameed is a scriptwriter, rapper, songwriter, actor, and satirist. Through satire, he addresses issues such as political corruption, the unchecked power of armed militias in Iraq, democracy and freedom of expression.
Aymen Hameed began his career in 2017 on the satirical current affairs programme Al-Basheer Show, broadcast on DW’s Arabic-language channel, where he worked until 2020. He later continued as a scriptwriter and producer on several Iraqi and Arabic political satire programmes.
Welcoming Hameed to Jönköping, the county’s Cultural Development Manager Magnus Jonsson says:
‘It's an honour and a pleasure for Region Jönköpings län to have Aymen with us for two years. He is an inspiration for all of us, and we are looking forward to different kinds of collaborations.’
Alongside his television work, Hameed contributed to advocacy campaigns on social media for the organisation End Impunity in Iraq. He also wrote, produced and performed his own music,releasing videos on social media that reached hundreds of thousands of viewers.
As a result of his work and the controversial nature of the themes it addresses, Hameed faced security issues, forcing him to withdraw from much of his professional activities and close his social media accounts.
Jönköping County
Jönköping County has been a member of ICORN since 2013 and was the first county in Sweden to join the network.
Since joining ICORN, Jönköping County has hosted four ICORN residents-poet, writer, and human rights defender Julia Olivera from Honduras, Iraqi poet and performance artist Ali Thareb, and Syrian investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker Ali Al Ibrahim, and scriptwriter, rapper, songwriter,actor, and satirist Aymen Hameed from Iraq.
