Isis uses image of dead infant as grim warning

A policeman carries the body of Aylan Kurdi, 3, after a boat carrying migrants capsized. Photo / AP

The latest issue of Dabiq, Isis' English-language magazine, contains a conspicuous number of offensive provocations. It has a two-page photo spread celebrating the destruction of the 2000-year-old Temple of Bel, the most famed structure in the ancient city of Palmyra - a world heritage site now under the control of the extremist organisation. It also shows pictures of bound men moments before their execution, and young boys training to be jihadists.

But the worst image in this issue, the publication's 11th edition, is one much of the world has already seen. Isis (Islamic State) ran the famous picture of Aylan Kurdi, the 3-year-old Syrian toddler whose lifeless body washed ashore on a Turkish beach. Aylan, as the world came to learn, drowned last week in the waters of the Aegean Sea after the rubber dinghy carrying him and his family sank. His death brought home the risks and horrors facing refugees now struggling to reach Europe.

But to Isis, the refugees' journey into "crusaders' lands" is unforgivable. They ran the image of the drowned child under the headline "The Danger Of Abandoning Darul-Islam" - or the lands of Islam. The magazine went on to chastise Arab refugees making the perilous Mediterranean crossing.

After citing certain traditions of Islamic jurisprudence, the article scolded as follows: "Sadly, some Syrians and Libyans are willing to risk the lives and souls of those whom they are responsible to raise upon the Shariah - their children - sacrificing many of them during the dangerous trip to the lands of the war-waging crusaders ruled by laws of atheism and indecency."

It concludes that "voluntarily leaving [the lands of Islam] for [the lands of infidels] is a dangerous major sin, as it is ... a gate toward one's children and grandchildren abandoning Islam for Christianity, atheism or liberalism".

This hardly seems like a deterrent to future refugees, who are fleeing both the ravages of the jihadists, as well as the regime the Islamic State claims it's fighting. Aylan's family were Kurds from the northern Syrian city of Kobane, the site of months of bitter warfare between Isis and Syrian Kurdish militias. The Kurds triumphed, but the city was a ruin.

The Kurdi family, struggling to survive, hoped like thousands of others for a better life overseas. That dream ended in tragedy, and Aylan's father, the only surviving member of the family, has returned to Kobane. In an interview with Newsweek, Abdullah Kurdi said that he will now stay by the graves of his wife and children - and that he will stand up to Isis.

"I will stay and fight for Kobane, fight for the family I have left and for my people," he said.

"We need all the help we can get, and I hope that the world realises how much we have suffered."

There were reports yesterday that Abdullah Kurdi was allegedly a people smuggler. He was captaining the boat on which his family were passengers, the Herald-Sun website reported Network Ten quoted as saying.