staged suffering ? child from alleged Douma attack says it was fake
Staged suffering ? Interview with boy in Douma raises more suspicions over alleged chemical attack.
19th April 2018
Russian TV claims a Syrian boy, aged 11, was filmed being doused with water and was was tricked into taking part in an alleged chemical attack in return for biscuits.
Hassan Diab claimed a group of 'unknown people' told him and his mum to run into a hospital where they were left with other patients
Hassan Diab, 11, claimed he was tricked into taking part, while his father and other hungry participants were given "dates, biscuits and rice".
After a deadly cocktail of chlorine and apparent sarin gas was dropped in the besieged town of Douma, emerging pictures showed kids foaming at the mouth.
But in the wake of the attack, a nervous-looking Hassan told Russian state media he heard loud shouts on the street urging people to rush to hospitals.
Speaking to state-run Rossiya 24, he said: "We were in the basement. Mum told me that today we don't have anything to eat and that we will eat tomorrow.
"We heard a cry outside, calling 'go to the hospital'. We ran to the hospital and as soon as I entered, they grabbed me and started pouring water on me."
His father Omar said in the by well-known Russian war correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny that he was at work when he was told his son was in hospital.
Omar added: "I entered the hospital and saw my family. There were no chemical weapons. I smoked outside and felt nothing.
"Militants gave them dates, biscuits and rice for participating in this film and released everyone to their homes."
Moscow insists there was no chemical attack on Douma, and that Western-backed NGO White Helmets staged the footage.
The channel interviewed a doctor who claimed no patients showed signs of the impact of chemical weapons.
He told Sputnik: "All doctors were busy taking care of them and didn't have time to react to the White Helmets' film crew.
"The White Helmets is a Syrian NGO, financed by several Western countries, which is with staging and filming false-flag chemical attacks."
Meanwhile, state-owned Rossiya 1 seized on comments on the by Lord West, former First Sea Lord, and security adviser to ex-premier Gordon Brown.
He questioned the evidence in the Douma chemical attack, and was challenged by presenter Annita McVeigh he may be "muddying the waters" at a time when Britain is "in an information war" with Russia.
Moscow edited out Lord West calling Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad a "loathsome man" and the peer's dismissal as "nonsense" of Russian claims of British involvement in the Douma incident.
They ignored his words that the Russians "lie as a matter of policy".
This comes as broadcasting regulator Ofcom launched seven investigations into the impartiality of Russia's state-financed news channel RT, in the wake of the Salisbury nerve agent attack.
Ofcom claimed to have found seven programmes in which a balance of views may not have been presented, potentially breaching the broadcasting code, according to .
Harrowing footage showed kids foaming at the mouth after a deadly cocktail of chlorine and apparent sarin gas was dropped on the rebel-held town on April 7, 2018.
The UK, US and French launched joint airstrikes in retaliation to the chemical warfare atrocity against civilians.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6089508/syria-chemical-attack--boy-hosed-down-russia-tv-staged/