Photo of scared Syrian child "surrendering" to camera goes viral

A poignant photo of a young Syrian refugee raising her arms in surrender was first published two months ago but has only now gone viral thanks to social media.

The image of the girl "surrendering" to a camera she mistakes for a weapon went viral after photojournalist Nadia Abu Shaban tweeted the image last week.

The BBC tracked down the photographer, Osman Sagirli, a Turkish photojournalist who confirmed that he captured the image in December at a refugee camp in Syria. He said it was published by his longtime employer, the Türkiye newspaper, in January.

"I was using a telephoto lens, and she thought it was a weapon," Sagirli told the BBC. "I realized she was terrified after I took it, and looked at the picture, because she bit her lips and raised her hands. Normally kids run away, hide their faces or smile when they see a camera."

According to the BBC, the image was widely circulated in Turkey after it was published but is only now going viral in English-speaking social media.

Sagirli said that the girl in the picture had traveled nearly 100 miles way to the Atmeh refugee camp near the Turkish border with her mother and two siblings.

"You know there are displaced people in the camps," Sagirli told the BBC. "It makes more sense to see what they have suffered not through adults, but through children. It is the children who reflect the feelings with their innocence."

In:
• Refugee
• Syria