Local News

Sonny Bill Williams tweets graphic refugee images

“What did these children do to deserve this?”

Sonny Bill Williams has caused a social media stir after tweeting extremely graphic images of dead children following his visit to Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon.

The All Blacks star tweeted two images from his account @sonnybwilliams of dead children with severe injuries.

“What did these children do to deserve this? This summer share a thought for the innocent lives lost everyday in war,” he wrote.

As a Unicef ambassador, Williams visited refugee camps in Lebanon’s Bekka Valley earlier this month and it made him realise how “ignorant” of the refugee crisis he was.

“I came here and what I’ve heard, what I’ve seen, I’ve just been shocked and it’s just made me realise how ignorant I was,” he said.

“The thing that really touched me was, coming here, I didn’t really know what a refugee was.”

“I mean, I knew what a refugee was but did I really know? No, not until I came here.”

The response to the images have been mixed with some disagreeing with his decision to post the pictures.

“The photos should be censored, respecting the dead if I’m not mistaken,” tweeted one used.

Yet others have supported his decision to post them.

“Let’s pray they see the day when birds will cover the sky and not bombs,” another wrote.

Related: Sonny Bill Williams gifts his World Cup medal to buy and melts hearts around the world

Loading the player...

Related stories