ISIS kidnap ‘Messi’

Three-year-old Iraqi boy abducted because he was named after ‘infidel’


Sports Desk April 27, 2017
PHOTO: REUTERS

In what can only be termed a bizarre act, terrorist organisation Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) kidnapped an Iraqi boy after his father named him after Argentina and Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi.

Messi eyes 500 as El Clasico looms


According to Daily Mail, Messi was abducted by ISIS with his mother and sister from their home in Sinjar, northern Iraq in 2014, and was forced to change his name to Hassan.



The extremist outfit also demanded ransom from the Yazidi Kurdish family.  Messi, who was kidnapped at the age of three, spent nearly two years in captivity, but has since been rescued and is now living in a refugee camp in Dohuk, Iraqi Kurdistan.

Majestic Messi reaches milestone in Clasico style


Last year, a five-year-old Afghan boy become an Internet star after pictures went viral of him wearing an Argentina football shirt made out of a plastic bag with his hero Messi’s name.

Later in December, Murtaza Ahmadi finally met his favourite football star in Doha.

For the entire interview, watch this video.

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