Hungarian video journalist Petra Laszlo of Hungary's N1TV station was fired after tripping a fleeing Syrian migrant father and son as they fled from police this month, but Kurdish media claimed on Sunday night that she may have been stopping a Nusra militant from infiltrating the country.
Laszlo was filming police attempting to control hundreds of migrants - among them Syrian refugees - at the Röszke collection point in southern Hungary, which was set up to deal with the thousands of migrants pouring into the country daily.
She was caught on film deliberately tripping a father carrying his young son as he ran away from police, and also reportedly kicked a young girl during the incident. Adding to the international outcry after the event was the fact that her station is associated with the far-right racist Jobbik party.
However, the Kurdish Rudaw reported late Sunday night that Osama Abdul Mohsen - the refugee tripped by Laszlo - was in fact a member of the radical Nusra Front, which pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda in April of 2013 and was later blacklisted by the UN as a terrorist organization.
The report cited the Democratic Union Party (PYD), a Kurdish opposition party in Syria, as making the revelation on Saturday.
After being tripped on the Hungarian border with Serbia, the report notes Abdul Mohsen later arrived in Spain where he was offered a job with the famous Real Madrid soccer club. Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo was among those welcoming him.
"However, the Kurdish group PYD alleged in its official media that Abdul Mohsen had fought alongside the Nusra Front before leaving Syria with his family in the spring of 2015," read the report.
In a ironic twist given the Real Madrid welcome, PYD also said Abdul Mohsen "was involved in the violent suppression of Kurdish riots in the city of Qamishlo in 2004 following a football match were (sic) more than 50 Kurds were killed by the Syrian security forces."
The alleged Nusra Front militant served as coach of the al-Fatwa soccer club in Deir Ez Zor between the years of 2004 and 2010, reports Rudaw.
According to PYD, Abdul Mohsen in fact instigated the violence after the soccer game between al-Fatwa and the Jihad soccer club of Qamishlo.
PYD also shared a photo of Abdul Mohsen in which he identified as a Nusra Front militant and admitted to fighting against Kurdish forces near Amudeh, Serekaniye and Afrin. The picture was said to be taken from his Facebook page before it was closed earlier this year.
This article has been modified from the source material.
