Rugby star tweets graphic photos of dead children

Rugby union star Sonny Bill Williams has posted graphic images of dead children on Twitter after a visit to Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon.

Williams, who played a starring role in New Zealand’s Rugby World Cup win, was in Lebanon as a Unicef ambassador.

On Tuesday night he tweeted graphic images of two bodies, adding “What did these children do to deserve this?”

The posts sparked controversy with some users praising him for his honesty and others questioning his judgment.

“Please use trigger warnings by putting ‘TW: dead children’ in the tweet next time. It’s very triggering as someone who has seen dead bodies like this before growing up,” one user wrote.

No further details were shared about the location of the photos or the identity of the children.

Williams visited refugee camps in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley earlier in December, where he met Syrian children and their families.

“This was such an eye-opener … [I was] so ignorant as to what was going on over this way,” Williams said in a video.

“It’s been an amazing few days, it’s definitely changed me for the better, and I’ll definitely look at things in a different light when I get back.

“This summer share a thought for the innocent lives lost every day in war.”

Williams made international headlines at the Rugby World Cup in October when he gave his winner’s medal to a young pitch invader following the All Blacks’ 34-17 victory over Australia.

The footballer is a huge star in both New Zealand and Australia, where he played professional rugby league for the Canterbury Bulldogs. BBC