A man, who posted pictures on Facebook of him holding an infant out of a 15th floor window in order to gain “likes,” has been sentenced to two years in prison.
The unnamed man was dangling his young cousin in an apartment block in Algiers, Algeria with just one hand holding the back of the child’s T-shirt.
The caption of the picture read: “1,000 likes or I will drop him.”
This act prompted Facebook users to demand him to be arrested for child abuse. However, the man claimed he didn’t put the baby’s life at risk and that the pictures were altered by other social media users.
“The picture was taken in a balcony with protective barriers,” he said, according to Algeria’s Ennahar TV. “These were removed.”
The father of the child insisted the court to forgive the man because he had just been playing a game. However, the judge ruled that it was evident that the child’s life was put at risk.
Articles that shared the images on Facebook received thousands of extremely harsh and angry feedback, according to BBC.
In 2002, Michael Jackson had infamously dangled a baby outside of a Berlin hotel window in front of photographers and fans. It was revealed that this child had been his youngest son, Prince Michael II.
Later, Jackson referred to this stunt as a “terrible mistake.”
