• Home
• /
• MENA

Daesh uses images of drowned toddler to warn refugees

Beirut - Daesh said people were committing a "dangerous major sin" by bringing children to the West, where "they are under the constant threat of fornication, sodomy, drugs and alcohol".

Daesh has used the shocking image of drowned Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi to warn refugees against trying to flee to the West, calling it a "major sin".

Three-year-old Aylan's body was photographed lying in the sand in Bodrum, Turkey after he drowned in a boat accident while his family tried to reach Greece, an image that helped to focus international attention on the plight of refugees.
Also read: 'I thought of my own son'

In the latest issue of its English-language magazine Dabiq, Daesh published the boy's image, and labelled it as the danger people would face if they abandoned the country.

"Sadly some Syrians and Libyans are willing to risk the lives and souls of those whom they are responsible to raise... sacrificing many of them during the dangerous trip to the lands of the war-waging crusaders," it said.

It said people were committing a "dangerous major sin" by bringing children to the West, where "they are under the constant threat of fornication, sodomy, drugs and alcohol".

Daesh seized control of large parts of Syria and Iraq last year, imposing a brutal rule of mass killings, torture, institutionalised slavery and widespread rape.

• Drowned Syrian boys' aunt wants to bring family to Canada

• New Zealand opens door for 750 Syrian refugees