Taliban Hunts for Young Afghan Messi And His Family

A then five-year-old Murtaza Ahmadi experienced the happiest day of his life in December 2016 when he entered the Doha soccer stadium hand in hand with his hero, Lionel Messi. Lionel Messi came to know Murtaza through a photo of Murtaza kicking a ball in a shirt made of nothing but a plastic bag made of Argentina's blue and white colors, with "Messi" and "10" penned on the shirt. The photo went viral and grabbed world headlines. France Presse subsequently chose the image as Photo of the Year. Messi saw the picture and sent Murtaza signed Barcelona and Argentina national jerseys.

Murtaza, now seven, was invited by the organizers of the Qatar 2022 World Cup to meet Messi in person at a friendly match between Barcelona and Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia. Murtaza fulfilled his dream but the fame came at a steep price. His family, being members of the Hazara ethnic minority from Jaghori district in the central province of Ghazni, was persecuted by the Taliban. His family have lived in the fear that the Taliban would try to abduct Murtaza for two years now.

The Ahmadi family was recently forced to flee Jaghori for a refugee camp in Kabul, leaving without their possessions. They were forced to leave behind the ball and jerseys Messi offered Murtaza and only received them after they had fled. During their flight to Kabul, Murtaza's mum covered Murtaza's face with a veil so he'd be unrecognizable.

Murtaza's mum, Shafiqa told Sputnik, "It was very hard for us to live in Jaghori (Ghazni Province). When Murtaza became world famous, there wasn't a single place where we could safely appear. Neither Murtaza, nor my other children could go to school safely. At night, some people were hanging around our home, so we couldn't go outside. When the Taliban attacked Jaghori, it became even more dangerous for us to stay there."

Murtaza's mum hopes Messi will someday help their family once more. Young Messi, Murtaza, told Sputnik, "I love Messi very much. He told me to play football like him."

Comments

Princess Qajar - The Revolutionary Persian Princess

Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh commonly referred to as Princess Qajar was a princess and memoirist of the Qajar Dynasty. Princess Tadj was one of the best known daughters of the Persian king, Naser al-Din Shah Qajar who ruled Persia from 1848 to May 1896. The Persian princess was born on February 4, 1883 and died on January 25, 1936, in Tehran, at the age of 52. Princess Qajar revolutionized beauty standards with her full look and ragged unibrow, and her unmistakably evident mustache. She was a true epitome of beauty at her time. Princess Qajar was declared a symbol of beauty in Persia and was coveted by many men. Thousands of men wanted to marry her, 13 of whom committed suicide upon being rejected by the princess. Princess Qajar eventually married Amir Hussein Khan Shoja'-al Saltaneh and had they had four children - two boys and two girls. They later got divorced in 1907 after enduring an unloving arranged marriage - she married Khan when she was 13. The princess argued f...

The Lehman Brothers Scandal (2008)

Company Background : Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a firm specialized in the provision of global financial services. It was founded in Montgomery, Alabama, in the United States of America. The company had headquarters in New York City, New York, in the U.S. It ceased operations in 2008. The founders were: Henry Lehman, Emmanuel Lehman and Mayer Lehman. What Happened? Lehman Brothers hid over $50 billion in loans disguised as sales. They allegedly sold toxic assets [1] to Cayman Island Banks with the understanding that they would eventually be rebought. How they were caught : Their bankruptcy led to the discovery of the fraud. They filed for bankruptcy in 2008, which is the largest bankruptcy ever recorded. Their case was larger than that of Enron, Washington Mutual, WorldCom and GM combined. On September 15, 2008, Lehman brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (Montgomery, n.d.) . Their bankruptcy filing came in as a blow to the financial indu...

The finger-cutting tradition of Indonesia's Dani tribe

The death of a loved one is always an extremely painful thing to bear, and people of different cultures grieve in diverse ways, some more unique than others. A typically unique way of grieving is that of the Dani (an Indonesian tribe). Finger-cutting is a fundamental part of grieving for women of the Dani tribe, and pertains to their women only. According to The Globe and Mail, an estimated 250,000 Dani tribe members live in a town named Wamena, in the extremely remote central highland area of Papua Province. Wamena is only accessible by plane. Upon the death of a loved one, the top joint of one of a woman's fingers would be amputated, and smear ashes and clay across their faces. Prior to amputation, a string would be firmly tied to the upper half of the woman's finger for 30 minutes, to cause numbness. This was to reduce the pain from amputating the tip. In most cases, the responsibility of cutting off the top joint of the finger is assigned to one of the woman's...

Raissa's Blog - Best of Sports, Culture, and Entertainment

Search This Blog