Petra Laszlo Gets Three-Year Suspended Sentence

Petra Laszlo tripping Osama Abdul Mohsen and
his seven year-old son Zaid
 

It's been just over 16 months since Hungarian camerawoman Petra Laszlo made global headlines during the height of the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe.

Laszlo was one of many journalists capturing images of terrified Syrian refugees desperately trying to evade capture by police in a field near a makeshift relocation camp outside the Hungarian village of Roszke next to the Serbian border.



But instead of just using her camera, Laszlo famously stuck out her leg and tried to kick at the legs of a little girl holding the hand of her father.

Laszlo didn't stop there, she successfully tripped a 56-year-old Syrian football coach named Osama Abdul Mohsen, sending him toppling to the ground on top of  his terrified seven year-old son Zaid (pictured above).

Unbeknownst to Laszlo, another journalist captured video footage of her intentionally trying to trip the little girl, and another journalist took photos her tripping Mohsen and his son.

The video of the incident went viral, and the footage captured not just Laszlo's reprehensible actions, but the heart-rendering images and sounds of crying, traumatized children and adults who've fled war-torn Syria trying to pass through Hungary to find sanctuary in Europe.

News of her actions exploded across social media and her name and photo quickly spread to mainstream media as well, earning widespread condemnation from people across the globe.

Xenophobic Camerawoman Petra Laszlo

It was soon revealed that Laszlo was actually working for N1TV, an Internet news channel with ties to Hungary's right-wing anti-immigrant Jobbik party.

In November the UK's Independent reported that the Jobbik party was conditionally supporting a constitutional amendment submitted to the Hungarian parliament that would permanently ban the resettlement of refugees in Hungary.


As Robert Mackey reported in an article in the New York Times, as outrage swelled over Laszlo's actions, N1TV, which functions as a something of a propaganda arm for the Jobbik party, fired her; saying that she had "behaved in an unacceptable manner" in a statement.

Last Thursday Laszlo appeared at a hearing via video link in Szeged district court in Hungary to answer for her actions.

As Vladimir Kozlov and Nick Holdsworth reported for The Hollywood Reporter, a judge rejected Laszlo's absurd claim that she tripped and kicked fleeing Syrian refugees in self defense and gave her a three year suspended sentence and ordered her to pay a fine equal to about $183.

It's delayed justice but it is a measure of justice for innocent refugees.

Osama and Zaid Mohsen

But more importantly at a time when right-wing populist political movements are gaining traction and influence in different parts of Europe, and Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric has stirred up xenophobia here in America, Hungary's court system deserves credit for holding Laszlo accountable for her actions.

Nothing can fix the trauma seven year-old Zaid Mohsen experienced on that day in Hungary, but at least what he and his father experienced brought global attention to the plight of Syrian refugees.

And the Hungarian legal system made clear that unwarranted acts of hate or prejudice against refugees will not be tolerated.

That said, at least this particular story has a somewhat happy ending.

As Nicolas Lupo Sonnabend reported for Aljazeera.com last February, a week after he and his son were tripped by Laszlo, they were able to make their way to Spain.

Today they live in the town of Getafe near Madrid, where he works as a football coach at the CENAFE football coach academy - and more importantly, has a legal residency permit.

He is still trying to cut through regulatory red tape to get his wife and other two children in the country from Turkey.

In a reflection of the complexity of issues facing refugees fleeing war or political persecution, to get his wife and other children into the country legally, Spanish law requires that Mohsen obtain documents from the Syrian embassy in Beirut.

But because he has expressed open criticism of the Syrian regime, he could be risking his life and freedom to go the Syrian embassy - opponents of Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad face persecution, jail, torture or worse.

But for now, unlike thousands of other refugees from the mid-east and Africa, Osama and Zaid Mohsen are safe in Spain.

Despite the best efforts of Petra Laszlo.

Frascatore-Time & Petra Laszlo Gets Her Kicks

NYPD officer James Frascatore

Remember back in 1997 during the fallout from the heinous toilet plunger assault on Abner Louima when the term "Giuliani Time" was being widely used to describe former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's approach to policing and the toxic relationship between the NYPD and communities of color?

Well now apparently it's "Frascatore Time".

Earlier today I was thinking that it may have been a bit premature of me to have awarded this week's George Lincoln Rockwell Award to disgraced NYPD officer James Frascatore (pictured left), the cop who assaulted and falsely arrested retired tennis star James Blake two days ago.

But after hearing today's news that a 2014 investigation conducted by WNYC revealed that the 38-year old Frascatore had been the subject of five separate civilian complaints during a seven-month period in 2013 and was also named in two different federal civil rights lawsuits filed by individuals who claim he pepper-sprayed, beat and then falsely arrested them, I'm sticking with my choice.

According to various reports, Frascatore has changed his phone number and has been placed on what the NYPD is calling "modified duty" after detectives who saw the video footage of his attack on Blake seized his badge and gun.

Meaning he's still earning a paycheck and benefits on the taxpayer's dime while the NYPD brass figure out whether they're going to serve him up to make an example to other NYPD officer's who are just a little too quick to resort to physical violence at the sight of dark skin.

Far right journalist Petra Laszlo

But in my book the Hungarian journalist Petra Laszlo (pictured left) certainly qualifies as a close runner-up for this week's Rockwell Award after video footage of her kicking an adult Syrian refugee and trying to trip his child went viral this week.

I suppose one might say it's now "Laszlo Time" in  Hungary given the country's opposition to the sugggested quotas proposed by EU officials for the numbers of Syrian refugees each European nation should accept to alleviate the humanitarian crisis. 

Laszlo was one of a swarm of journalists who were in an open field near the Serbian border in the village of Roszke trying to capture footage of a large group of Syrian refugees who were desperately trying to evade capture by a group of uniformed police in blue uniforms.

The absurd cold-hearted inhumanity of the moment is certainly one of the reasons the video clip has been seen millions of times around the world, but there's also something compelling about viewing a natural reaction like that.

Petra Laszlo's Hungarian welcome

If you've seen the video clip, Laszlo intentionally sticks out her right leg and kicks the leg of a male refugee running from the police, she then attempts to trip a child next to him whose hand he's holding.

Her choice suggests one of two possibilities.

Either she was trying to purposefully cause a terrified adult and his child fleeing a war-torn country to trip and fall so the cops chasing them could capture them so she could then record the confrontation on video.

Or, her personal feelings of contempt, anger or resentment towards the refugees simply bubbled up to the surface and trying to trip them was all she could manage to do at the spur of the moment with so many others running around.

Maybe it's a combination of both.

After all, as The New York Times reported earlier this week, N1TV, the Internet television channel she worked for, is associated with the right-wing Jobbik party - she could have been trying to intentionally stage the photo to appease N1TV member audiences; who like Fox News watchers have nothing but contempt for refugees.

Regardless, she's been fired and I can only assume is now looking for work; I can't help but wonder how Laszlo will sit across from someone in HR in a job interview and explain why she left her previous job; Fox News would probably hire her in a snap.

She has since publicly apologized for getting her kicks on innocent refugees, but only after her name achieved astronomically high rankings as a Google search term and images of her physically abusing people fleeing the ravages of war and ISIS have been seen by millions around the globe.

Just like NYPD officials revoking James Frascatore's badge and gun, Laszlo's apology comes just a little too late.

I mean come on, trying to trip a little refugee girl? Low rent.