Flying high: how a photo of a Syrian father and son led to a new life in Italy

Munzir al-Nazzal with his son, Mustafa, who loves being raised into the air because it gives him the feeling of flying. Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian

In January last year, while working on the Turkish-Syrian border, photojournalist Mehmet Aslan photographed a Syrian man, Munzir al-Nazzal, who had lost a leg in a bomb attack. Munzir was playing with Mustafa, his 5-year-old son, who was born without limbs, and the shot portrayed the father, propped up on a crutch, raising his smiling child into the air.

Aslan entitled his photograph Hardship of Life.