Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian’s “stolen pictures” angered Syrian journalists

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian recently caused a stir by tweeting that he stole works shot by Syrian journalists and spread false information in order to criticize the US military in Afghanistan. Ali Haj Suleiman, a photojournalist in Idlib, Syria, said he was angry that Chinese officials not only stole pictures and distorted the truth, but also failed to apologize. Suleiman accused China of complicity in the genocide that Syrians are suffering.

Small body, but shoulder left after the bombing mortar shell casings, Syrian children have a pair of hands at a young age, holding the palm full of bullets, the mud is still visible between the fingers… “, Suleiman documented how Syrian children, growing up in the middle of the war, struggle to survive by sorting through local scrap metal and earning a meager living fee. Some of the children he photographed were killed in the war.

However, the suffering and blood and tears of The Syrian people became the weapon Zhao Lijian wanted to use to attack the United States, treating Syria as Afghanistan, pointing fingers and spreading lies with the blood and tears of other people. Suleiman was very angry when he saw his works being distorted and appropriated like this at the first time.

“It was really irritating, that was my immediate reaction, I was really angry that he used these pictures without my permission and that the officials were trying to change the facts. Although he deleted the tweet early Monday morning, he did not contact me or apologize.” Suleiman spoke to the BBC via a mobile phone app.

Suleiman’s works on Syrian children under war were selected by THE United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) last year, and Zhao Lijian stole four of his winning pictures on Twitter on Thursday, writing, “This is what the United States has done to Afghan children in the past 20 years of war.”

When Suleiman discovered that the work was being used to spread false information, he named Zhao Lijian on his Twitter account and told Zhao the truth: “These shells, large and small, were left by the Assad regime in Syria, which is supported by Russia, and launched an attack against Syrian civilians and children.”

Not only on Twitter, but also on Sina Weibo, China’s Internet firewall, Zhao Lijian continued to falsely spread the same information on May 26, and even labeled it as “a US bombing all the way”. After Suleiman complained, zhao also deleted it.