IPSO have received over 30 complaints about The Independent's decision to publish uncensored photos of Aylan Kurdi.

The Independent chose to publish an uncensored photo of Aylan Kurdi, lying drowned on a beach, on the front page of the newspaper.

Aylan Kurdi was a 3 year old Syrian refugee who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea attempting to reach Europe.

Several UK national newspapers chose to publish the images when they first appeared.

Most newspapers chose to use a photograph of Aylan Kurdi being carried away by a police officer, however The Independent chose to show him lying face down in the sand.

As well as complaints received by IPSO, The Independent itself received 13 complaints.

The Independent is not regulated by IPSO, so the complaints made to the organisation will not be investigated.

The complaints made to IPSO were made under clause five, 'intrusion into grief or shock', of the Editor's Code of Practice.

In a column, deputy managing editor of The Independent Will Gore, explained: "We published the image online and in print because we believed it was of a different order to pictures we have seen before of the refugee crisis - and was one that might at last lead to action by politicians.

"There was a manifest public interest in showing the horrific reality of human desperation.

“Of course there are times when the public availability of information online helps us to justify our own use of it: but that cannot be the only consideration.

“Indeed, quite aside from questions of good taste and intrusion, seeing something on social media doesn't make it true.

“Newspapers, ultimately, are curated spaces with editing at their heart. We should not cede the responsibility for making good decisions by simply replicating the free-for-all we can see on Twitter and elsewhere.”