British Lord dropped by Labour party over Obama bounty
Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir (R) receives British Muslim Lord Nazir Ahmed (L), who was in Khartoum to ask for the release of a British woman teacher jailed for 15 days for insulting religion, Dec. 3, 2007.
Nazir Ahmed, a British Lord of Pakistani origin, had been suspended by the UK Labour party for offering a 10 million pound ($15.8 million) "bounty" for the capture of United States president Barack Obama while visiting Pakistan.
He also offered the bounty for the capture of Obama's predecessor, President George W. Bush, according to Britain's Daily Telegraph.
Ahmed, 53, who became the first Muslim member of the House of Lords in 1998, was reported by Pakistan's daily Express Tribune to have made the comments in Haripur in Pakistan.
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According to the Jerusalem Post, his offer was a response to the US announced of a $10 million bounty for Hafiz Muhammed Saeed, founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the terrorist group blamed by India for attacks in Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people.
However, Ahmed has denied that he had announced a bounty, saying that all he had called for was the prosecution of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Bush for war crimes.
The Post cited Ahmed as saying: "If the US can announce a reward of $10 million for the capture of Hafiz Saeed, I can announce a bounty of 10 million pounds for the capture of President Obama and his predecessor, George W. Bush."
According to a separate Express Tribune article, a Labour party spokesperson said: "If these comments are accurate we utterly condemn these remarks which are totally unacceptable … The international community is rightly doing all in its power to seek justice for the victims of the Mumbai bombings and halt terrorism.
“We have suspended Lord Ahmed pending investigation,” she said.
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