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One-eyed unity with injured Yemeni girl

  • Published
    31 August 2017
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People shared photographs of themselves closing an eye in solidary with a young injured Yemni girlImage source, Various
Image caption,

L-R: @8Maktoom, Wiam Adil Maktari, Addulrahman Algamily

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What's popular and why

People in Yemen are sharing photos on social media of themselves with one eye closed in solidarity with a young girl injured and orphaned in an air strike.

Bouthaina al-Rimi's home in the Attan neighbourhood of Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, was bombed and destroyed on 25 August. The blast killed her parents and six siblings.

  • Yemen war: Children dead after Sanaa air strike

  • Yemen war: Air strike on hotel outside Sanaa 'leaves 30 dead'

Following her rescue, a photographer shared a picture of Bouthaina trying to open one of her swollen and bruised eyes.

The picture has become an emblem for the toll the war in the Middle Eastern country is taking on its population. Since 2015, Saudi-led forces have been fighting Houthi rebels, who control northern Yemen including Sanaa.

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By sharing photos of themselves closing an eye, people in Yemen are hoping to raise awareness of the crisis. Half a million children under five are suffering severe acute malnutrition, and the cholera outbreak is the largest in the world, infecting over 500,00 people.

  • Witnessing Yemen's desperate suffering

The Arabic hashtag #Bouthaina_The_Eye_Of_Humanity and #I_SPEAK_FOR_BUTHINA have both been used more than 3,000 times since Wednesday.

Buthaina Muhammad Mansour being rescued from the site of a Saudi-led air strike on Sanaa which killed eight of her family members.Image source, Reuters
Image caption,

A Reuters photographer caught the rescue of Buthaina Muhammad Mansour following a Saudi-led air strike on Sanaa

Prominent Yemini blogger Ezzedine Aref shared a photo, writing 'Solidarity with Buthaina, the only survivor of the bombing in Sanna last week'.

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Wiam Adil Maktari shared her photograph on Facebook, external, which elicited nearly 400 reactions.

Wiam Adil Maktari's post on FacebookImage source, Wiam Adil Maktari/Facebook

"Bouthaina is telling the world 'open your eyes'," wrote film-maker Abdulrahman Algamily, external from Istanbul, Turkey.

"O my little one, no matter how much you try to open your eyes, the world is, unfortunately, a dark place," he continued.

BBC's Nawal Al-maghafi, who has gained rare access to rebel-held Yemen in the past months, posted her own photograph with the hashtag.

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Some Twitter uses called for an end to the war.

"For Bouthaina and all of Yemen's children, we say YES to the end of war," @bn_sawlan, external commented.

Reporting by Alma Hassoun, BBC Monitoring, written by Georgina Rannard, BBC UGC & Social News.

More on this story

  • Children dead after Sanaa air strike

    • Published
      25 August 2017
    People carry the body of woman they recovered from under the rubble of a house destroyed by a Saudi-led air strike in Sanaa, Yemen (August 25, 2017)
  • Yemen: Why is there a war there?

    • Published
      14 April 2023
    An armed Yemeni boy loyal to the Houthi movement at a tribal gathering in Bani al-Harith, north of Sanaa (17 August 2014)
  • The silencing of a Yemeni social media star

    • Published
      28 August 2017
    Hisham

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