Confusion as a Imam was arrested after 'blasphemer' teen cuts off hand

Pakistani police have arrested the imam of a mosque for inciting violence after a 15-year-old boy, who was told by the religious leader that he was a blasphemer, went home and cut off his own hand.

Shabbir Ahmed was delivering a sermon at a village mosque in the east of Pakistan's Punjab province when he told the gathering those who love the Prophet Mohammad always say their prayers before asking who, among the crowd, had stopped praying and did not love the prophet.

Local police chief Nausher Ahmed told Reuters news agency that Mohammad Anwar, mishearing the question, raised his hand. The imam quickly singled him out and called him a "blasphemer" in front of the congregation.

Anwar went home and cut off his hand - an act welcomed by his father who told police he was proud of his son and did not want the imam arrested.

The boy presented his arm to the imam on a plate, said Nausher who added he saw a video in which the boy was greeted by villagers in the street as his parents proclaimed their pride.

The incident took place at a village in Hujra Shah Muqeem town, about 125km south of Punjab's capital Lahore.

Police filed anti-terrorism charges against Shabbir and arrested him on Saturday.

"Such illiterate imams of mosques should not be allowed to deliver speeches," Nausher said. "His arrest is under the National Action Plan that hate speeches inciting violence are no longer allowed in this country."

Blasphemy is a highly controversial issue in Pakistan, and angry mobs have killed many people accused of insulting Islam in the Muslim-majority country.

The law does not define blasphemy but stipulates that the penalty is death, although a death sentence has never been carried out.

Since 1990, more than 65 people have been extrajudicially killed as a result of blasphemy cases.

Supporters of convicted killer Mumtaz Qadri during a sit-in protest demanding his release in Karach [Reuters]

With Aljazeera

Burkina Faso: President Buhari Promise To Support

President Buhari’s statement is coming as Burkina Faso grapple with the aftermath of Friday night’s terrorist attack on Ouagadougou.

In a telephone call to President Kabore on Saturday, the President expressed shock at the attack on the Splendid Hotel in Burkina Faso’s capital in which 26 persons were reportedly killed and a further 56 injured.

“Accept my sympathy over what happened in your country. I am however glad to hear that your forces have rallied, and things are now under control,” President Buhari told his counterpart.

He assured President Kabore that Nigeria would continue to work with Burkina Faso, other members of the Economic Community of West African States, the African Union and other peace-loving nations of the world to overcome the scourge of international terrorism.


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Roberto Martinez: Everton boss feels 'pure anger' at Terry goal

Everton boss Roberto Martinez said he was feeling "pure anger" after his side were denied victory by a controversial 98th-minute Chelsea equaliser.

John Terry was a yard offside when he salvaged a point for Chelsea in a pulsating 3-3 draw at Stamford Bridge.

Martinez, whose side were leading 2-0 and 3-2, said the officials had made two "major errors" as Terry's goal came after the allocated seven minutes of added time.

"It's heartbreaking," he added.

"Seven minutes of injury time, the last action happens in 97 minutes 51 seconds and John Terry is two yards offside.

"Maybe refs need a bit of help. But to have a player two yards off in the box is unacceptable.

"There is no explanation. It's a big, big error. It's not good enough."

Everton took the lead when Terry put through his own net before Kevin Mirallas sent the visitors 2-0 up.

Diego Costa reduced the margin and Cesc Fabregas's deflected shot made it 2-2.

The Toffees thought they had won it through substitute Ramiro Funes Mori in the 90th minute only for Terry to back-heel in from close range.

Everton are without a win in their past four Premier League games and have one win in nine.

Chelsea's interim manager Guus Hiddink suggested he might have spoken to the referee, Mike Jones, and told him to play additional stoppage time after Everton went 3-2 up.

"There was seven minutes extra time. I said to the fourth referee, 'OK they are celebrating at least one minute in the corner'."

Hiddink also admitted Terry's last-gasp equaliser was offside.

"[Martinez] is quite right, he was offside.

"Sometimes it's in our favour, I've seen it. Oscar touched the ball and John was offside but he made a beautiful goal."

Swedish doctor kidnapped woman after giving her drug-laced strawberries, planned to keep her in rape bunker for years

                            SWEDISH POLICE AUTHORITY

A Swedish doctor drugged a woman with sedative-laced strawberries, raped her in a specially built bunker and planned to keep her captive for years, police said.

The kidnapped woman escaped from the hellish lair when her abductor drove her to a police station in a bizarre bid to persuade officials she was alive and well, Sweden's Aftonbladet tabloid reported.

During the nightmare week she lived in the bunker, the 38-year-old doctor continually injected her with sedatives, repeatedly raped her and even ran STD tests, planning to eventually rape her without protection, police said.

The unidentified man spent five years building the secret bunker and likely planned to take more women hostage, police said.

“The purpose of the building has been without detection to keep people incarcerated for an extended period,” an officer said.

The sicko trekked to Stockholm, about 300 miles northeast of his home in Kristianstad, to pick up his victim in September. It's unclear if he knew her before the kidnapping.

He presented her with a box of homemade chocolate-covered strawberries and fed her ones that had been laced with Rohypnol. He marked the drugged berries’ leaves with a black marker so he could avoid eating any toxic fruits himself, police said.

The doctor slipped a rubber mask over the sedated woman’s head and carted her to his car in a wheelchair. He wore a matching rubber disguise.

SWEDISH POLICE AUTHORITY

During the six-hour drive back to Kristianstad, the man repeatedly injected the woman with more drugs to keep her unconscious.

Back in the bunker — a 200-square-foot room with 12-inch-thick walls, a toilet and fully-stocked kitchen — the twisted doctor raped her multiple times and gave her more sedatives, police said. The man even performed STD tests on the woman and later told police he wanted to have unprotected sex with her. The woman’s samples were found in the lab where the doctor worked.

Six days after the kidnapping, the man drove back to Stockholm to pick up some of her belongings. While raiding her apartment, he discovered she had been reported missing, and when he got back to the bunker, he frantically drove the woman to the police station, forcing her to tell cops she was alive and well.

While at the station, the woman reported her abduction to police and arrested the alleged kidnapper on Sept. 18.

Police believe the man initially plotted to keep the woman locked in the bunker for years — and he could have kidnapped more victims, too.

Cops raided the meticulously built bunker after the arrest. The room was finished with an Ikea bed and a small desk, and the kitchen was stocked with groceries. The building even opened to a tiny, covered exercise yard.

Officers found a trove of drugs, condoms, syringes and two rubber masks inside the room.

The doctor confessed to drugging and kidnapping the woman but denied raping her. He claimed he took her to the police station after a change of heart. 



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Burkina Faso Hotel Seizure Is Over As 4 Jihadis, 28 Others Dead

                                    AP Photo

The Al-Qaida fighters who stormed a popular hangout in Burkina Faso's capital at dinnertime came with a mission to kill as many people as possible, firing at people as they moved to a nearby hotel and setting the cafe ablaze, survivors and officials said Saturday. according to AP. 

As the gunfire stopped after more than 12-hour siege, at least 28 people had been slain in an unprecedented attack on this West African country. 

The victims had been grabbing a cold drink outside or staying at one of the capital's few upscale hotels. 

In this city with a large aid worker presence, the attackers sought to shoot as many non-Muslims as possible, screaming Allahu akhbar as they entered, said AP.

An audio tape later released by the al-Qaida group claiming responsibility for the carnage was entitled: "A Message Signed with Blood and Body Parts."

Among the victims from 18 different countries were the wife and 5-year-old daughter of the Italian man who owns the Cappuccino Cafe, where at least 10 people died in a hail of gunfire and smoke after the attackers set the building ablaze before moving on to the Splendid Hotel nearby, reported by AP. 

Some survivors cowered for hours on the roof or hid in the restaurant's bathroom to stay alive. Two French and two Swiss citizens were confirmed among the dead late Saturday by the two countries' foreign ministries.

Authorities said the four known attackers - all killed by security forces - had come in a vehicle with plates from neighboring Niger. At least two of them were women and one was of African descent. Witnesses said they wore the turbans often worn in the sand-swept countryside of the Sahel, and some spoke in French with an Arabic accent, suggesting some may have come from further north in Africa, said AP.

"I heard the gunfire and I saw a light by my window and I thought it was fireworks at first," said Rachid Faouzi Ouedraogo, a 22-year-old accounting student who lives near the scene of the carnage. "I raced downstairs and once outside I saw people running through the street and four people firing on the people at Cappuccino."

Burkinabe forces backed by French soldiers based in neighboring Mali managed to help free at least 126 hostages though officials have said the true number of those held hostage may be higher. Dozens were wounded in the overnight siege, including many suffering gunshot wounds.

"We appeal to the people to be vigilant and brave because we must fight on," President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said on national radio Saturday.

"We know that the gunmen won't get out of the hotel alive," said one witness of the overnight siege, who gave only his first name, Gilbert. "Our country is not for jihadists or terrorists. They got it wrong."

With Associated Press