I am appalled of this photograph and ashamed that it is attributed to an Australian citizen.
It just goes to show that teachers can only achieve so much. At the end of the day, a child’s prospects for building a good character is largely dependent on the experiences and teachings he or she receives at home:
KHALED Sharrouf’s son, a child raised in the suburbs of Sydney, struggles with both arms to hold up the decapitated head of a slain Syrian soldier.
In a conflict awash with gruesome images, this single photograph — posted on Twitter by a proud father with the words “Thats my boy!” — may come to symbolise the savagery that has become the hallmark of the Islamic State and the depravity of its army of foreign fighters.
The image was taken in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, the capital of what has been declared an Islamic Caliphate by the Islamic State. It was posted on the Twitter account of Sharrouf, a Sydney man who fled to Syria last year and is now an Islamic State fighter.
It was one of a sequence of photos posted by Sharrouf, who security agencies believe travelled to Syria with his family. One shows him holding a decapitated head, the same one as his son.
Another shows Sharrouf dressed in camouflage fatigues and posing with his three young sons, the flag of the Islamic State displayed behind them. In this image, just like their father, the boys are dressed in dull green fatigues. And, like dad, they are all holding guns. They appeared to be aged around four, six and seven.
But it is the image that security agencies believe is Sharrouf’s son, struggling to hold the head of the decapitated soldier, that is utterly shocking. The little boy is dressed as if heading out for a picnic. He is wearing a pair of checked pants and a blue shirt, with the insignia, Polo Golf Kids. He has a green cap on his head and a blue plastic watch on. Over his shoulders he has ammunition pouches.
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