In the photos, Jayne Rivera, 20, was wearing a fitted, black one-sleeve blazer dress as she stood by her father’s coffin, which was adorned with an American flag. She posed with her hands in prayer in one picture.

Rivera, of Florida, told NBC News in an interview that she “understood the negative reception,” but clarified that the photos were taken “with the best intentions in a manner my father would have approved with had he still been alive.”

She said she put the photos on Instagram the same day they were taken, on Sunday, more than a week after her father died on Oct. 11, and she “stands by” what she posted.