to think they shouldn't send you to prison for taking a picture of a corpse

[pisacake]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4611862/Man-jailed-posting-Grenfell-Tower-victim-picture.html

Apparently Mr. Mwaikambo, who is of Tanzanian origin or extraction, opened a body bag at the Grenfell Tower and posted the picture on Facebook.

I'm not sure about Tanzania, but I am in Indonesia and it's very common to post selfies with dead (i.e. in the moments after they die) relatives etc. on Facebook. There was a case earlier this year where a Western man died and the local newspaper published multiple shots of him dead, dressed only in his underpants with blood coming out of his nose etc. Those photos remain online.

Obviously this is not the done thing in England, but it seems that someone they have come up with a fairly arbitrary charge (sending obscene materials over the internet) - there's no law against what he did, per se - and whacked a rather stiff sentence on him.

I'm not saying he was right to do it, but it seems that there is an excessive sentence for someone who broadcast to a fairly limited number of people (he has a couple of hundred friends on Facebook), something which inherently is more about outrage at the fire than the fact of what he did.

The law used is obscenity, but the photos are no more obscene than going to Tanzania/other parts of Africa and taking pictures of dead Africans to be broadcast on the news, or photos of the deceased Gaddafi (widely distributed in Western media) or whatever. The obscenity is the fire, but Mr. Mwaikambo is in no way responsible for that.

This isn't Indonesia so it doesn't matter what the done thing is in Indonesia.

Hear hear Pink. He's a disgusting individual and I'm glad for once justice was swiftly dispensed. I only wish they would deal with those responsible for the blaze as quickly.

He deliberately opened the body bag to take a photo.

Of course he should have got prison.

What did he expect, a fucking medal?

Op, YABmassivelyU.

OP YABVU. Yes he deserved it, he opened a body bag, took photos of some poor dead person and bloody posted them. It was NOT his relative and he had no right to do so. How in ANY way is that acceptable to you?!

How would you feel if you were not sure if your relative had died and found out by seeing some twats post on social media. No fucking respect at all. The amount of apologists make me question peoples sanity they really do.

It's not remotely racist to be horrified at his actions.

So what would have you done in the position of the authorities pisacake?

Gently explained to that poor souls family that the graphic images of their demise published on the internet are the result of a cultural understanding, there there?

If you don't like a law you consider punishing thought crime, crack on and work to change it. Until then it is a law and multi layered authorities will enforce it as they feel best serves the community.

Do you need me to link to the numerous social media posts here in Indonesia where people do exactly that? Why are people so insistent that their perceived norms are human absolutes?

I dont know what they do in other cultures

When we went on holiday we had to read up on the local culture so we didn't offend anyone or end up in prison

Ignorance of the law is no excuse, or thats what i learned many years ago during my o levels

Using culture as a defence is bullshit. Is it normal to take photos of people killed in tragic accidents or when the person has been 'laid out' in a way appropriate in that culture? If it's a cultural norm to take photos directly after a sudden, horrific death then that's nothing to boast about. My understanding is that he went over/through a police cordon (sp) to get to the body.

This man wasn't trying to help anyone. Fucking Facebook likes, fame, was all he wanted. If he was interested in helping then there was plenty of shocked, injured people he could have helped instead. I found out a very good friend died, while my husband was in a hospice to get his meds sorted. Thankfully I was able to delegate the post before my husband read it. The poor woman's husband was distraught as he hadn't had an opportunity to tell the rest of the family. The person that did it is a cunt.

News agencies blur faces or do not show close ups of dead people's faces. They also do not open body bags in order to take photos.

They also hack into dead people's voicemails and pose as relatives in order to gain access to interviews. Whilst the person in question did wrong, let's not act like our British press aren't culpable because they blur faces.

If you go to a country you respect their culture and laws. If you don't like them don't go there.

Lots of places have different cultural norms and laws but that doesn't mean you can go to that place and ignore them.

"Im at a loss as to why your defending him? 3 months is nothing in the scheme of things and imho entirely appropriate. Given the mood of the local community it's probably best he's out of their sight at the moment."

3 months is a very substantial prison sentence for something he presumably didn't even think was wrong. It compares rather poorly with revenge porn sentences where people INTENDED harm to LIVING people. Take a look at this example: www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-39491749 NO prison time. How is what he did worse than posting nude images of living women on the internet and calling for them to be raped?

It says that he was out there serving cups of tea to fire fighters.

There is no actual harm here. He didn't defile the corpse or something. The images were circulated to a small number of people and are gone from the internet. Yes people are outraged but that's not really the same thing as causing harm.

For goodness sake we dont live in Indonesia. This is England and we dont do that sort of thing here. He got 3 months and will be out in 6 weeks, hopefully it will teach him a lesson.

When in Rome do as the Romans do and all that.

He's in England and these are our laws.....same as if we went to.Dubai and started drunkenly dancing on tables we'd rightly be arrested for breaking their laws. They wouldnt say well that's OK in England so we won't arrest that one would they ??!

He's disgusting and he should be in jail.

He wasn't taking a photos of himself with a dead relative, he was pissed off and angry that a body had been left in the vicinity of the building he lived in.

No respect for the victim
No respect for the victims family
No respect for those trying to work in those horrific circumstances.

What he did was despicable, but is it normal to be jailed so quickly?? Maybe I'm totally naive, but I don't think I've ever read about a case being opened and closed all in the same week

i dont give a shit what his culture is- and its not racist we live in the uk abide by the law its not hard

There is no actual harm here

The potential for harm is there. Imagine a young relative seeing that? This poor person's son or daughter.

It doesn't bear thinking about.

On the plus side, at least anyone else that views this as the cultural norm, will learn that it's not acceptable, in the uk or Ireland, due to this man going to jail. 👍

It's pretty sick and no, the news agencies don't go round opening body bags. Jesus.

Some publications flirt close to the boundaries of the IPSO guidelines but not even the worst offenders do that.

No editor in the land would support a photographer that did that.

It's horrific. YABU.

OP I agree, I was shocked that he got a custodial sentence. Yes it was wrong and yes these things should be punished but I don't believe he was acting maliciously, he was just stupid and thoughtless. A fine and community service would have been more appropriate IMO rather than adding another body into the already overstretched and expensive prison system.

I know we don't live in Indonesia, and that what he did is contrary to British norms and unacceptable

I'm just pointing out that he might not have understood those norms, and in the context of a shocking incident next to where he lived he made a misjudgement that for me does not warrant prison.

I think you, OP, are ridiculous to think you can defend what this man did, it is sickening and he should have got a year not just 3 months. I don't give a shit what is done in other cultures, it isn't done in the U.K. Simple as that. He clearly betrayed the trust of the firefighters he was supposed to be making tea for and thank goodness he was caught and dealt with quickly.

there is no actual harm here

Bollocks. If I was scrolling on Facebook and saw a close up of a body of someone who'd jumped out of highrise building I'd be pretty disturbed.

In fact years ago an Indonesian women posted close up pictures of a number of children that had drowned in floods in her home town on a Facebook group I was in. It's still difficult to get those images out of my head.

Perhaps that law should be amended to specifically include taking pictures of people suffering or dead. I wouldn't argue with that.

Ffs vladimirs this isn't about you!