Lord Ahmed suspended in Obama bounty row

LORD Ahmed of Rotherham has been suspended by the Labour party following allegations that he called for a £10m bounty for the capture of US Presidents Obama and Bush.

Lord Ahmed has denied making the comments which were reported in the Express Tribune newspaper, based in Pakistan,.

The row comes after the US offered a $10m bounty for the conviction of Hafiz Saeed, the founder of the Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group.

According to the Express Tribune, Lord Ahmed said: "If the US can announce a reward of $10m for the captor of Hafiz Saeed, I can announce a bounty of £10m on President Obama and his predecessor George Bush."

The comments were allegedly made at a reception arranged in Lord Ahmed’s honour by the business community of Haripur, Pakistan, on Friday.

Speaking after the Labour Party announced his suspension yesterday, Lord Ahmed 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.

"I do not think there's anything wrong with that."

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