A manga artist behind a Facebook illustration labeling a refugee from Syria a selfish freeloader has taken it down at the request of a photographer who criticized her for distorting his work.

On her Facebook account Thursday, artist Toshiko Hasumi refused to apologize, claiming her illustration, based on a photo of a girl at a refugee settlement in Lebanon taken by Canadian documentary photographer Jonathan Hyams, did not constitute copyright infringement.

Hasumi, however, explained she deleted the illustration at Hyams¡¯ request early Wednesday because ¡°the fact remains I have caused him enormous trouble.¡±

¡°But I will not apologize no matter what,¡± she said. ¡°Because unlike in Japan, you¡¯re destined to lose in a court battle overseas once you¡¯ve admitted to your fault.¡±

The illustration contains a thought bubble that says: ¡°I want to live a safe and clean life, have a gourmet meal, go out freely, wear pretty things and luxuriate. I want to live my life the way I want without a care in the world ¡ª all at the expense of someone else.

¡°I have an idea. Why don¡¯t I become a refugee?¡± it concludes.

Hasumi rejected accusations it was racist, claiming she did not seek to denigrate Syrians, she told The Japan Times.

Instead, she said, it was meant to ridicule economic migrants ¡°pursing a safer, more comfortable life in a foreign land under the guise of pitiable asylum seekers.¡±

For his part, Hyams was quick to express shock at the illustration on Twitter: ¡°Shocked + deeply saddened anyone would choose to use an image of an innocent child to express such perverse prejudice,¡± he said.

¡°What a shameful misrepresentation of the plight of the Syrian people,¡± he continued, adding the photo was taken for the independent charity organization Save the Children.

An online furor has broken out in response to Hasumi¡¯s illustration, with the number of Change.org signatures calling on Facebook to recognize it as racism totaling more than 10,000 as of Thursday.