A Tripped Syrian Refugee Finds a Home in Spain

Alan Taylor
June 22, 2016
14 Photos
In Focus

Last September, photos and video of a Syrian refugee named Osama Abdul Mohsen and his young son being tripped by a Hungarian camerawoman as he tried to flee border police near Serbia went viral. While much outrage was focused on the actions of the journalist Petra Laszlo (who was fired shortly afterward), Mohsen’s story caught the attention of a soccer training school near Madrid, Spain. The school found Mohsen a job as a liason officer, and now he spends his time between Spanish language classes, his new job, and two of his sons in their new home in Getafe. His wife and two more children remain in Turkey, waiting for visas to enter Spain.

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Left: On September 8, 2015, a Syrian refugee, Osama Abdul Mohsen, carrying his youngest son Zaid falls after being tripped by TV camerawoman Petra Laszlo while trying to escape from a collection point in Roszke village, Hungary. Right: Less than a year later, Osama Abdul Mohsen poses for a photograph after a training session with his junior team in Villaverde, a neighborhood in Madrid, Spain, on April 14, 2016. Mohsen's story went viral after he was filmed being tripped up as he fled police. He was carrying his youngest son Zaid in his arms at the time, and the two fell sprawling on the ground. Footage of the incident helped bring him to the attention of a soccer training school in Getafe on the outskirts of Madrid, which found him work as a liaison officer. #

Marko Djurica / Reuters - Sergio Perez / Reuters

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Hungarian police officers stop Syrian refugee Osama Abdul Mohsen and his son Zaid as they try to escape on a field nearby a collection point in the village of Roszke, Hungary, on September 8, 2015. #

Marko Djurica / Reuters

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Hungarian camerawoman Petra Laszlo trips Osama Abdul Mohsen as he tries to flee with his son near Roszke village, Hungary, on September 8, 2015. #

Marko Djurica / Reuters

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Osama Mohsen attends Spanish lessons at a YMCA social center in Getafe, outside Madrid, Spain, on April 21, 2016. #

Sergio Perez / Reuters

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Mohsen studies Spanish in Getafe on April 21, 2016. #

Sergio Perez / Reuters

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Mohsen buys bananas at a fruit shop near his home in Getafe on April 14, 2016. #

Sergio Perez / Reuters

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Mohsen talks with his young son Zaid, as his older son Mohammad al Ghadabe, 17, is reflected in a mirror at their home in Getafe on March 22, 2016. #

Sergio Perez / Reuters

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Zaid sits on a sofa at their home in Getafe on April 14, 2016. #

Sergio Perez / Reuters

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A Spanish encyclopaedia, a model of Santiago Bernabeu stadium, and Spanish homework papers sit on a table inside the home of Osama Mohsen on April 21, 2016. #

Sergio Perez / Reuters

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Osama Mohsen and his son Zaid walk along a street on their way to take a train in Getafe on April 14, 2016. #

Sergio Perez / Reuters

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Osama and Zaid watch a soccer training session in Villaverde, a neighborhood in Madrid, Spain, on April 14, 2016. #

Sergio Perez / Reuters

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Mohsen celebrates victory with his junior team's players after a soccer match in Villaverde on April 24, 2016. #

Sergio Perez / Reuters

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Mohsen warms up a goalkeeper before a soccer match with his junior team on April 24, 2016. #

Sergio Perez / Reuters

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Zaid, son of Osama Abdul Mohsen, smiles as he stands next to Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo before the Spanish first division soccer match against Granada at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain, on September 20, 2015. #

Sergio Perez / Reuters

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