‘They filmed him before providing first aid’: Father of blood & dust-covered Aleppo boy to RT (Video)
https://www.rt.com/news/391198-aleppo-boy-rt-interview/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeoZyzT2khg (3:15 min.)
The Syrian boy, whose traumatized face covered in blood and dust flashed across media screens and prompted global outrage, was filmed and exploited purely “for the sake of propaganda,” the boy’s father who now lives in liberated Aleppo told RT’s Ruptly.
Omran Daqneesh was rescued from the rubble in the aftermath of a bombing in the rebel-held Qaterji district of Aleppo in August 2016. The controversial Syrian Civil Defense group, better known as
the White Helmets soon released harrowing footage of Omran sitting in an ambulance chair.
The White Helmets group has a controversial reputation. While they are hailed as hero volunteers by the Western mainstream media, and even have an Academy Award-winning documentary about them, their reputation on the ground in Syria is much more sinister.
Witnesses accuse them of collaborating with terrorist groups, filming staged reports about their rescue work, engaging in looting and other misdeeds. Members of the group have been caught on camera several times performing dubious acts, including assisting an apparent execution of a prisoner.
The photo quickly spread across the internet, shocking and disturbing social media users.
The US State Department during the Obama administration even called the child “the real face” of the Syrian war and the "brutal Damascus regime."
Now, almost a year later, RT's video agency Ruptly caught up with Omran and his family in government-controlled Aleppo.
“My name is Omran Daqneesh, I am four years old,” the smiling boy said. His father Mohammad Kheir Daqneesh told Ruptly that the family has been “in so much turmoil because of the insurgents, and because of the issues they made propaganda of.”
“Thank God, now the situation is improving, the army is advancing and liberated the areas, and we came back to our homes, the situation is now getting better,” he said.
Mohammad recalled that day when the family was hit by an airstrike: “We were sitting in our house like this. Omran and I were spending time having fun on our cell phones. Then the strike occurred.”
Mohammad lost track of his son as he searched for other family members, and when he finally found Omran, he saw “insurgents” already filming his son.
Mohammad said that while he was busy saving his family, “the insurgents seized the opportunity and filmed my family when they were getting out the house.”
“They took Omran in order to provide him with first aid, but before they attended to him they sat him down to photograph him. Why this photograph? Because this photograph is to exploit him, as if he was targeted, his injury was grave,” Mohammed said, slamming
the White Helmets group for exploiting his son for propaganda purposes.
With regard to the White Helmets, they primarily work with the press, it's a professional tool that they are using,” he said. “The photographs that address emotions, they are worth a price. Some of them work together on these things; between the media and
the White Helmets.”
Omran received light injuries in the strike, while his brother Ali died in that bombing, succumbing to his wounds in the hospital later in August. Asked why he did not leave eastern Aleppo Omran's father said: "I could have taken the risk but I cannot put my family at risk… That is why we waited until there was a chance to leave."
Mohammed Daqneesh says that all he wanted last year and today, is for him and his family to be left alone.
“I didn't ask for anything with regards to Omran. No media, no fame, nothing. They photographed him without my will. I brought him back here, so that no one would exploit him. I shaved his head, I even changed his name, I prevented him to go to the street,” he said, explaining that in addition to the media attention, he has been getting threats.
“I am not conspiring against the country; I am not receiving dollars to harm my country. I am a human being a citizen who is worth the sane as any other citizen. This child is worth the same as any child.”
The father of a Syrian boy named Omran Daqneesh, whose image is sometimes regarded as a symbol of the Aleppo children’s suffering, revealed that the Syrian militants sought to use his son as tool in their anti-government propaganda campaign.
Suffering and Propaganda: The True Story of Omran Daqneesh (VIDEO)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201706061054369308-omran-daqneesh-fact-fiction/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylXf0UCkh4A (2:20 min.)
The name of Omran Daqneesh became known to the world in August 2016 when some media outlets began circulating footage of a five-year old Syrian child apparently injured in alleged Russian Air Force strike on the rebel-held al-Qaterji neighborhood of Aleppo.
Untroubled by petty concerns of ethics and morality, the Syrian militants rushed to capitalize on this tragedy, using the image of Omran – bloodied, covered in dust and apparently shocked – as ammo in their propaganda campaign against Damascus and its allies, blaming the government of Bashar Assad and Russian combat pilots for the suffering of Aleppo’s children.
The truth, however, turns out to be quite different.
While the militants claimed on several occasions that Omran died of his injuries, the boy is in fact alive and well, living peacefully with his family in the liberated city of Aleppo.
The boy’s father, Mohammad Kheir Daqneesh, told RT correspondents that the militants actually exaggerated the extent of his son’s injuries for the sake of propaganda.
He only sustained minor injuries, but the militants exaggerated this fact. They said on numerous occasions via their media that he died, until finally admitting that he’s alive. They are not to be trusted," Mohammad said
He described how on that tragic day when their house was destroyed and he rushed to rescue his family from the rubble, the so called White Helmets simply stood by and filmed his son in order to make that famous video.
While I was rescuing my family the militants filmed my kin getting out of the house, in order to use these images for propaganda… I never had any dealings with their organizations and I never accepted their so called humanitarian aid," the father explained.
One can only hope that the Syrian militant groups won’t use the suffering of more Syrian children as mere ammo in their ongoing efforts to topple the country’s government.
The Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday invited CNN host Christiane Amanpour to visit Syria to make an honest interview with the Syrian boy from Aleppo known as the "symbol of Aleppo suffering."
Moscow Says CNN Host Should Take Honest Interview of Aleppo Boy
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201706081054430105-russia-cnn-aleppo-boy/
The Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday invited CNN host Christiane Amanpour to visit Syria to make an honest interview with the Syrian boy from Aleppo known as the "symbol of Aleppo suffering."
The RT broadcaster released a two-part interview with Omran Daqneesh's father Mohammad Kheir Daqneesh on Tuesday and Wednesday. The interview revealed that the White Helmets volunteers had manipulated injured Omran into being photographed instead of offering immediate help and later threatened his father after he went into hiding to prevent any more unwanted media exposure.
Amanpour in her October interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov showed the photograph of Daqneesh shot in August, saying that it illustrated "a crime against humanity."
"I’d like to say that if Amanpour started this story, I mean so publicly, coming to Moscow and being determined enough to print out the photograph and show it to Sergei Lavrov, maybe she has enough bravery, journalistic professional ethics and simple humane conscience to finish it? And do that by going to Aleppo, finding the family of the boy and taking a truly honest interview, not a set up one as they at CNN know, but an honest interview with the boy," Zakharova said.
August's footage showed the boy injured and covered in ashes after being rescued from an attack in the militant-controlled Karm al-Qaterji neighborhood. Syrian anti-government forces accused Moscow of conducting an airstrike on the neighborhood, while Russian Defense Ministry’s spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov denied Western media reports of Russia’s alleged role in the strike as the residential neighborhood is directly adjacent to the Russian humanitarian operation corridors for the safe exit of local residents.
Konashenkov previously stated that the nature of damage shown by Western media during Omran's rescue demonstrates that if the strike did take place, it could not have come from aircraft munitions, but a mine or a gas cylinder, heavily used by terrorists in Syria. The Russian defense ministry's spokesman accused the media of committing a "moral crime" in the "cynical hype" of the volunteers' footage for their "formulaic propaganda material."
The Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday invited CNN host Christiane Amanpour to visit Syria to make an honest interview with the Syrian boy from Aleppo known as the "symbol of Aleppo suffering."
Moscow Urges CNN Host to Take Honest Interview with Aleppo Boy
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960318000857
The RT broadcaster released a two-part interview with Omran Daqneesh's father Mohammad Kheir Daqneesh on Tuesday and Wednesday. The interview revealed that the White Helmets volunteers had manipulated injured Omran into being photographed instead of offering immediate help and later threatened his father after he went into hiding to prevent any more unwanted media exposure, Sputnik reported.
Amanpour in her October interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov showed the photograph of Daqneesh shot in August, saying that it illustrated "a crime against humanity."
"I’d like to say that if Amanpour started this story, I mean so publicly, coming to Moscow and being determined enough to print out the photograph and show it to Sergei Lavrov, maybe she has enough bravery, journalistic professional ethics and simple humane conscience to finish it? And do that by going to Aleppo, finding the family of the boy and taking a truly honest interview, not a set up one as they at CNN know, but an honest interview with the boy," Zakharova said.
August's footage showed the boy injured and covered in ashes after being rescued from an attack in the militant-controlled Karm al-Qaterji neighborhood. Syrian anti-government forces accused Moscow of conducting an airstrike on the neighborhood, while Russian Defense Ministry’s spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov denied Western media reports of Russia’s alleged role in the strike as the residential neighborhood is directly adjacent to the Russian humanitarian operation corridors for the safe exit of local residents.
Konashenkov previously stated that the nature of damage shown by Western media during Omran's rescue demonstrates that if the strike did take place, it could not have come from aircraft munitions, but a mine or a gas cylinder, heavily used by terrorists in Syria. The Russian defense ministry's spokesman accused the media of committing a "moral crime" in the "cynical hype" of the volunteers' footage for their "formulaic propaganda material."
@AEJKhalil Jun 23
