The photograph of a hijab clad woman walking past an injured person in the recent terror attack outside the UK Parliament in London has started an intense debate on social media.
Taken by Jamie Lorriman, the photograph shows the woman holding a phone as she walks on the Westminster Bridge. In the background, an injured person can be seen lying on the ground with a few people surrounding him.
Many, including anti-Islam blogs, have accused the woman of being “unconcerned” and “ignoring” the victim.
Muslim woman pays no mind to the terror attack, casually walks by a dying man while checking phone#PrayForLondon #Westminster #BanIslam pic.twitter.com/B83Jwno65t
— Texas Lone Star (@SouthLoneStar) March 22, 2017
A picture says 1,000 words. London terrorist attack, and this Muslim woman can’t be bothered to put down her phone. #ReligionOfPeace #MAGA pic.twitter.com/SZBjfrN6cB
— Troll Hunter (@thecrazycannuck) March 22, 2017
Many other have pointed out that lobbing accusations at a person in a photograph, that is just a capture of a moment, without knowing the context is simply unfair and unjust.
@thecrazycannuck picture says only one thing: Scared woman calls her family. Doesn’t matter that she’s wearing scarf.
— Veronika Doleželová (@VeraDolezelova) March 24, 2017
@SouthLoneStar ….or she’s scared, confused and in shock like all the Brits there at the time. Phoning her family to say she’s safe.
— Nick Gibbs-McNeil (@NickGM) March 22, 2017
And now Jamie, who is a freelance photographer and who was present at the spot at the time of the attack, has also spoken up saying that contrary to the accusations, the woman looked “horrified” and “distressed”.
“The people who took on that picture are being rather selective. In the other picture in the sequence she looks truly distraught … personally I think she looks distressed in both pictures. It’s wrong it’s been misappropriated in that way,” Jamie told abc.net.au.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, center, participates in the moment of silence observed by the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, March 23, 2017, to mourn the victims of the terrorist attack in London on Wednesday, March 22, 2017. He later told reporters that the tide was turning against terrorists and the world stood by Britain. (Photo credit: UN/via IANS)
He said, “To assume she was ignoring someone is impossible to know, the look on the woman’s face, she’s horrified, she’s in the middle of a traumatic situation. She probably just wanted to get off the bridge.”
The photographer went on to say that he felt “sorry” for the woman and that she must feel “awful” if she saw the picture.
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