What sort of a father is this? Holding your two-year-old child out of a multi story apartment window, as a stunt, for Facebook laughs?
A father of a young toddler in the city of Bab Ezzouar in Algeria, held his son by the shirt, with only one hand, and dangled him out of his apartment window, fifteen stories up. He then posted the photo on Facebook, with the caption “1,000 likes or I will drop him.”
However, the prank backfired on him, as furious Facebook users reported him, and demanded he be prosecuted. “This man should be brought to justice and punished in the most severe way,” said activist Ali Ben Jeddou.
While, a media activist, Dalila Belkheir, labeled the man as “not a father but a terrorist.”
One online poster said: “What is most striking is that it appears that the father is carrying his son with his left hand while using his right hand to take the picture, this means the picture is more important than the child’s life.”
He was taken to court in Algiers and prosecuted, and on June 19 judges sentenced the man to two years in prison. Psychologist Dr. Noura Rahmani was quoted in The New Arab report as saying that “such images and actions must not be tolerated, especially in our Algerian society, where crime is rampant.”
“The father is unaware of the magnitude of this heinous act which he has committed. In the future, the child may suffer from episodic fits resulting the fear he endured in this act”, she added.
The jail sentence sends a strong message to parents, that similar acts will not be tolerated, otherwise there will be serious consequences.
