Pakistani-British MP offers reward for Obama’s capture

London, 16 April 2012: A Pakistani-origin member of the House of Lords was suspended from the Labour party after it was reported he had offered a reward of 10 million pounds for the capture of US President Barack Obama.

 

Nazir Ahmed -- the Lord Ahmed of Rotherham -- reportedly made the offer after the US announced a $10 million bounty for Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Muhammed Saeed, who was blamed for orchestrating the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
Ahmed described the bounty on Saeed as an "insult to all Muslims", the Daily Mail reported.

 

Ahmed reportedly said Obama had "challenged the dignity of the Muslim community" and said his reward also applied to Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush.

 

A Pakistani daily said Ahmed made the remarks in Haripur, Pakistan, last week.

 

"We have suspended Lord Ahmed pending investigation. If these comments are accurate, we utterly condemn these remarks which are totally unacceptable," a Labour spokesman said.

 

Ahmed denied offering a bounty, but said he told the meeting that Bush and former British prime minister Tony Blair should be prosecuted for war crimes.

 

He said from Pakistan that no one from the Labour party had contacted him before announcing the suspension.

 

"They have suspended me? That’s a surprise to me. I did not know," he told the Daily Mail.

 

Asked about the comments, he said: "I never said those words. I did not offer a bounty. I said that there have been war crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan and those people who have got strong allegations against them - George W. Bush and Tony Blair - have been involved in illegal wars and should be brought to justice."