Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News, 2013-11-05

Following the shocking kidnapping and savage murder of a Muslim boy in Beira in Mozambique at the bloody hands of his abductors, a rights group has called for the interior minister to resign.

Six people, including a presidential guard, were sentenced to 16 years in prison on Monday for their involvement in abductions.

The BBC's Jose Tembe report that the guard, Arsenio Chitsotso, was a member of the elite police unit that protects President Armando Guebuza.

Two other policemen were jailed with him by a court in Maputo.

The government said police involvement in kidnappings was regrettable.

Mozambican Human Rights League head Alice Mabota said the government had failed to tackle crime such as kidnappings and drug-dealing.

“If I were the interior minister, I would resign and get rid of the whole ministry, starting with the general police command," she said.

Ahmed’s body was found in a dumpster 3km out of Beira. He was severely tortured, burnt and his limbs were severed.

Ahmed’s mother who is a well-known Portuguese linguist said she was not going to shed a single tear because the horrible act transpired when they informed the police.

The family reported his abduction to the police and immediately thereafter received a telephone call from the kidnappers who objected that "we had put the police in the middle of the deal", the mother said.

According to the mother, the kidnappers had originally demanded $1m (£620,000) in ransom, but lowered it to about $30,000 in negotiations.

"We did not have this amount either. We had to pawn some of our assets, including tricycles and houses to be able to secure over $30,000 in local currency and they agreed," she is quoted by local media as saying.

Well known scholar and community leader in Mozambique, Moulana Nazir Loonat told Radio Islam the parents were ready to pay after asking people for help.

“The only mistake which the parents made was that they (spoke) to the big director of investigation of police, ‘that we are going to this place and we are going to give the money’”, said Ml. Loonat.

Interior Minister Alberto Mondlane has promised to look into the family's allegations.

On Tuesday Mondlane announced that he sacked the police criminal investigations director in Maputo, Januario Cumbana, amid a growing public outcry over the abductions.

Meanwhile Religious leaders and civil society groups had a protest march on Thursday in Maputo.
Ml. Loonat told Radio Islam that the march was peaceful because they had two demands:

To demand an end to the conflict between the army and the Renamo movement, which pulled out of a 1992 peace accord with the government last week and a demand for the kidnappings to end.

“We have explained in detail that we have contacted the president, we have contacted the previous Prime Minister, the present Prime Minister, we have contacted the Minister of Home Affairs, we have contacted different officers of peace and we have not seen any results in this,” said Ml Loonat.
 
Mondlane said he was confident that that "all police criminals will be found and taken to court".

"One measure we are taking is to provide the police force working in this area with technical skills to investigate, find the suspects and bring together material evidence to back the criminal process," he said.

 (Twitter: @Faizie143 )