From shipwrecks to terror attacks to
an air disaster involving Paris Hilton, it seems that almost nothing is
off-limits for the prank shows that have become a staple of North
African TV during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.
A recent
programme in Algeria earned fierce criticism for fooling a renowned
communist novelist into believing he had been arrested for "atheism and
espionage".
During the segment, 75-year-old Rachid Boudjedra was
forced by fake police officers to repeat the Islamic proclamation "God
is Greatest" and utter the two Islamic testimonies of faith.
The programme, called We Got You was later suspended amid a wave of criticism from civil society.
TV has become an important part of the Islamic holy month, and
broadcasters will often commission special programmes to draw audiences
in as they break their fast in the evening. Prank TV shows have risen in popularity, but have also earned criticism in recent years for taking things too far.
Staged terror attack
Egyptian
actor Ramez Galal has established himself as a major TV prankster, with
a series of programmes featuring celebrities in increasingly extreme
scenarios.
In one edition, he fooled celebrities into believing they were on a
sinking ship, surrounded by floating body parts and an approaching
shark.
In another, victims were locked inside a supposed ancient
Egyptian tomb containing bats, insects and a mummy rising from the dead.
In
2013 during a programme entitled Ramez, the Fox of the Desert, guest
celebrities were fooled into believing the bus they were travelling on
had been intercepted by militants.
The mock militants pretended to shoot the driver dead and then blindfolded and handcuffed the guests.
This was aired at a time when Egypt was witnessing a surge in terror
attacks, particularly in the region of Sinai, where military convoys
were often attacked by armed bandits in desolate areas.
Galal
revels in the controversy. In a trailer for his show, he admits to
"torturing his friends and fellow actors because he loves them".
And
it may be that only the audience is being fooled. Sharp-eyed viewers
often find clues signalling that the guests are in on the prank.
Some celebrities have confirmed that this was the case.
Fatwas
Tunisia's
The Earthquake is another controversial programme which fools guests
into believing they are experiencing a violent tremor.
In one episode, an elderly religious leader insisted on continuing to pray despite the ongoing quake.
The
show was widely criticised on social media for disregarding the age and
health conditions of the guests, who seemed genuinely scared.
Similar
charges were levelled at Algeria's We Got You. Following the episode
featuring Mr Boudjedra, one Algerian novelist said it was "unbelievable
that a famous writer was ridiculously pranked with no regards to his age
or fame".
Religious bodies in the region have recently issued
fatwas (religious edicts) asserting that terrorising people for any
purpose is religiously forbidden.
The shows are also criticised,
like the slew of entertainment programmes aired during Ramadan, for
being a distraction from spiritual dedication during the holy month.
Chasing ratings
Egyptian
media expert Yasser Abd-al-Aziz told the BBC that the prevalence of TV
pranks has forced production companies to push the boundaries of good
taste in order to attract audience and advertising revenue.
But
one popular show entitled The Shock appears to buck this trend, with
more traditional pranks, rather than terrifying ordeals.
The show is filmed in a number of Arab countries, capturing reactions
to staged situations such as a man violently scolding his wife, a
student insulting his teacher or a child standing helpless in the cold
weather asking passers-by for a coat.
It has won over audiences across the the region by exploring how strangers interact in dramatic but everyday situations.
As
Twitter user @Nooruldeen89 put it: "Despite the acts being staged, The
Shock awakens the human in you and makes you rethink your perspective."
Not so long ago, the Jews of Baghdad
were one of the great trading communities in Asia. In the southern
Indian port city of Chennai - Madras, as it once was - Andrew Whitehead
came across a last remnant of the Jewish presence there, and stumbled on
a tragic love story.
I was told the place would be difficult to
find - tucked away on a busy market street not far from Marina beach,
with stalls obscuring the entrance. But I spotted the star of David
standing proud. The gates had recently been painted sky blue, and over
the entrance were the words Beit Ha Haim, Hebrew for The House Of Life. In other words, a Jewish cemetery
The gates were padlocked. One of the market women gestured to me to
wait - she got out her phone - another woman found me a plastic chair
and assured me, "Someone coming." Half-an-hour later, Kumari
appeared - a bustling, well set woman in a pink sari. She had a bunch of
keys, and within a couple of minutes I was ushered into a tiny
graveyard, little bigger than a badminton court. It was a touch
forlorn-looking, but clearly well-kept. And in case I hadn't cottoned on
who was responsible for the upkeep, Kumari wielded her broom
energetically to clear leaves from the gravestones. The synagogue
in what was Madras was demolished decades ago. The city now has no
Jewish community, though some say there are still a few individuals. The
cemetery is just about all that's left, and that's moved, perhaps
twice, down the years. Only a handful of the older graves have survived,
the most substantial that of Abraham Salomons, a coral merchant, who
died in 1745. There's a handful of 20th Century graves. One caught
my eye - a woman who died in 1943 in her early twenties, Victoria M
Sofaer. What was the story behind that early death
Well, there's a family history website devoted to the Sephardic
Jewish diaspora. Victoria - I discovered - was known as Toyah, and born
in Baghdad. But curiously, her family didn't know about her grave - or
exactly when or where Toyah died. Through that website, I made
contact with Toyah's niece - and indirectly with Toyah's half-brother,
Abraham, now 94 and living in a nursing home in Toronto. He was born two
years after Toyah and was the closest to her in the family. They were
surprised to learn of Toyah's grave. In turn they unsettled me with the
troubling story of Toyah's life and death - barely known even within the
family, and never rehearsed beyond its bounds. Toyah's father,
Menashi, was the proprietor of the British General Supply Store in
Baghdad in the 1920s and 1930s. They imported Swiss cheese, French
brandy, American cigarettes, Belgian chocolate, and had a grand shop on
Rashid Street, Baghdad's main street back then. In 1940 or
thereabouts, Toyah fell in love with an Armenian man from the family
that ran the ladies' wear shop on the other side of the street. Her
family found out. They were determined to put a stop to the romance.
They tried to find a Jewish groom - she turned them all down. So they
shipped Toyah out - to India.
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Abraham,
Toyah's half-brother, was then living in Bombay to avoid service in the
Iraqi army. Late in 1942, his parents turned up there with Toyah in
tow. "She was in complete shock, silent - she never said a word to me", he recalls. "It saddened me greatly."
After a while, Toyah and her parents moved on - he wasn't told where.
Then he heard that Toyah had died. And their parents returned to
Baghdad. They didn't talk about what happened. It was only later that
Abraham found out from his grandmother about Toyah's transgressive
romance. "I believe my sister died from a broken heart," he says. I
asked if there were any likenesses of Toyah. I was sent a family
portrait of three boys. Toyah would have been seven at the time. Why
wasn't she included? She had been! When she died, her parents retouched
the photo to remove her image. Done - says Toyah's niece - so that there
was no reminder of the scandal and the tragedy.
Another photo has emerged. It may, just may, include Toyah. A serious
looking young girl with tousled hair, no-one's quite sure if it's her -
and more than 70 years after her death, I guess we'll never know. Toyah's
brother is comforted to know she has a proper grave, and to be able to
talk within the family about the fate his sister suffered. It's offered
him some closure and given his sister public acknowledgement of the
wrong done to her. His daughter dropped me a line. "Bringing back memories of Toyah", she said, "is incredibly moving for us." It is for me too.
A spokesman for Iran Air, Shahrokh Noushabadi, told the Agence
France-Presse news agency on Sunday: "So far five planes carrying
perishable food items such as fruit and vegetables have been sent to
Qatar, each carrying around 90 tonnes of cargo, while another plane will
be sent today."
It is unclear whether the food is an aid delivery or a commercial transaction.
Iran has also opened its airspace to Qatari flights, following
airspace closures by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Analysts say Qatar's positive relations with Shia-led Iran -
Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia's arch-rival for influence in the region - were
one of the causes of the latest rift, and the latest shipments are
unlikely to ease the tension.
Meanwhile Qatar said it would not
retaliate after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE last week ordered all
Qatari citizens to leave within 14 days.
Some 11,000 people from the three nations are believed to be in Qatar.
In other developments on Sunday:
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE have
set up hotlines to help families in their countries that have Qatari
members. It is the first significant move to lessen the humanitarian
impact of the blockade and followed a call on Friday by US Secretary of
State Rex Tillerson for measures to be eased
Qatar has hired former US attorney general John Ashcroft to fight its corner in the international arena
Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, said
he was confident the "region will return to a normal situation" and the
current crisis would not affect the staging of football's World Cup in
Qatar in 2022
Qatar's overseer of charities. the
Regulatory Authority for Charitable Activities, denied any involvement
in funding militants, saying it "deplores the accusation that Qatari
humanitarian organisations support terrorism"
Irfan Masih was clearing a blocked
sewer in Pakistan's Sindh Province when he was overcome by toxic fumes.
The 30-year-old, who is Christian, died in hospital. His family say that
doctors initially refused to treat him and allege he is a victim of
growing discrimination from the Muslim majority. The BBC's Riaz Sohail
in Umarkot and M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad report.
When Irfan Masih
was sent with two colleagues to clear a sewer that had been blocked for
four months on Chhor road in Umarkot town, he could not have foreseen
that his life was about to end.
His cousin Pervez, a sanitary worker like Irfan, said he was heading to work on 1 June when he heard about the incident.
"I
rushed straight to the spot where some people were gathered. They had
already pulled out Shaukat Masih, who was unconscious. I helped bring
out Yaqoob and Irfan."
Shaukat Masih had been sent down to rescue the two. Irfan was deepest down the sewer well.
"Irfan
was breathing, sometimes choking a bit. I lifted him on my shoulder and
started running towards the hospital when an auto rickshaw pulled over
to help me carry him.
The Taluka Headquarters Hospital in Umarkot is a small one, with only
one emergency room where all three were taken. Six doctors deal with
600 outpatient and emergency cases every day.
One doctor came in,
looked at Irfan and told the ward boy to clean him, Pervez Masih said.
"I pleaded with him that Irfan was seriously ill and he must examine him
right away. But he said he was fasting [for Ramadan], and that Irfan
was covered in sewage filth. He went away."
After some time, the
hospital's chief doctor arrived, he says, followed a while later by
another. Neither doctor tended to the injured sanitary worker, although
Pervez Masih says the second doctor told the ward boy to put him on
oxygen.
"The ward boy did not wash Irfan as he was told. He
continued to try to insert a cannula in Irfan's wrist but couldn't find a
vein.
"All this while, I was fretting and pleading with one
member of staff after another to attend to Irfan. Then I cleaned his
face a bit and put my mouth on his mouth and nose and blew in to revive
him.
"All this time, Irfan was breathing. Occasionally a shiver would run down his body, like someone having an epileptic fit.
"We
must have been there for half an hour before he died. The last time I
breathed into his mouth and nose, he pulled in a deep breath and choked a
little."
It was only then that the ward boy brought the oxygen
and put the mask on his mouth, he said, but there did not appear to be
any oxygen in the cylinder. Minutes later a fourth doctor, Hanif Aresar,
came in.
"He didn't mind the filth, just went down and embraced
him and turned him on his stomach, and back on his back, and tried to
resuscitate him manually. Then he said it was no use. Irfan was gone. "
Image copyrightPervez Masih
Irfan was Christian, like most sanitary workers in Pakistan. Some
low-caste Hindus also do the job, but Muslims avoid this work because
they see it as beneath them. Christians also face discrimination
in this Muslim-majority nation. So too do Hindus, but in Umarkot there
is a Hindu population of half a million, making them an influential
group. There are only a small number of Christians, however, and they
have no meaningful representation in the local government.
Who are Pakistan's Christians?
Make up 1.6% of Pakistan's predominantly Muslim population
Majority are descendents of those who converted from Hinduism under the British Raj
Most converted to escape their low-caste status and many are among the poorest in Pakistan
Targeting of Christians fuelled by strong anti-blasphemy laws and anger over US-led war in Afghanistan
Dr Jam Kumbhar, the chief of the
hospital, denies allegations that doctors refused to touch the three
workers unless they were washed or that one said he was fasting (with
the possible implication that he was short-tempered as a result). He
says Irfan Masih "was already dead when they brought him in," despite
his cousin Pervez's detailed account of the man's last moments. "I
am a Muslim and a doctor, and part of our training is to understand
that all patients are equal and we must not entertain prejudice against
anyone," Dr Kumbhar told the BBC. "I did not utter these words,
nor did I hear any other doctor say that he was fasting and that he
would touch the patient only after the patient was given a bath." The
BBC asked to see the entry register which lists each patient brought in
to the emergency room and their medical condition. Dr Kumbhar said they
couldn't find it because it had been taken away by local Christians. Local
journalist Nahid Hussain Khatak, who reached the hospital about 10
minutes after Irfan Masih, corroborates much of Pervez Masih's account.
He had been seen by the doctors. If they thought he was dead, why would they put a cannula in his arm or give him oxygen?" A picture taken by Pervez Masih appears to show his brother with a cannula in his arm. Dr Kumbhar accused the Christians of turning violent. "They
were armed with sticks and were also carrying acid in bottles. They
broke things at the hospital. The lives of the doctors were in danger." The
hospital administration has made a formal request to the authorities to
lodge a case of terrorism against 13 members of the Christian
community. Nahid Hussain Khatak says the violence alleged "wasn't even a fraction of what the hospital administration have said". "Someone
opened the fridge in the emergency room and found it stocked with fruit
(for doctors and paramedics to eat after their fast) instead of
medicine, and pulled it to the ground. They smashed up a couple of
tables but it was over in minutes as everybody stormed out to hold a
protest." Far from going after the Christian protesters, police
are investigating the three doctors at the hospital who are accused of
negligence and involuntary homicide. Dr Kumbhar was arrested and
released on bail. Pressure for a police complaint mounted when the Christian community staged their demonstration, attracting media attention. Image copyrightPervez Masih
Pervez Masih does admit he and others were angry.
"I lost my
mind. Shaukat and Yaqoob were also in a serious state. So there was
mayhem in the emergency room. Someone pulled down a refrigerator, a
table or two were overturned, some windowpanes were broken."
But he says they left with Irfan Mashi's body when police told them to calm down.
"We
took the dead body straight to the town square where we staged a sit-in
for seven hours, and left only after the district administration
high-ups assured us that justice would be done."
It was this
anger, he believes, that convinced police to lodge a complaint against
the three doctors, and that convinced the hospital staff to immediately
arrange to transfer the two other Christian men to hospitals in
Hyderabad and then Karachi.
"Shaukat has revived, but Yaqoob is still in a serious condition," Pervez says.
Locals say at least two other Christian sanitary workers lost their lives cleaning the same sewer three years ago.
Mir
Hasan Aresar, a columnist and social worker, says there have been
examples of intolerance towards minorities in this area. "Tolerance is
diminishing, and it's worrying," he said.
Image copyrightPervez Masih
The government has announced compensation of a million rupees
($15,000, £12,200) to the family of Irfan Masih, but his mother, Arshad
Bibi, is not content.
"I want justice. I want the doctors to be punished so that this doesn't happen to another poor family."
His father, Nazeer, said the first doctor did discriminate against Irfan and the others.
"He
said he was fasting, and the patients were dirty. His clothes would get
soiled, he said. He asked us to wash the patients before he could treat
them.
"They hate us. They don't allow us to sit next to them
because we are sweepers. The politicians came here because the case was
highlighted in the media. Otherwise, no-one bothers."
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, second son of
the late deposed Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, is said to have
been freed under an amnesty, in a move which could fuel further
instability.
His father's preferred successor, he had been held by a militia in the town of Zintan for the past six years.
The Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Battalion said he had been released on Friday but he has not been shown in public.
A source has told the BBC he is in the Tobruk area of eastern Libya.
His
lawyer, Khaled al-Zaidi, also said he had been released but would not
say which city Saif al-Islam had travelled to for security reasons.
The Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Battalion said it was acting on a request from the "interim government".
That government - based in the east of the country - had already offered amnesty to Saif al-Islam.
However,
he has been sentenced to death in absentia by a court in Tripoli, the
west of the country, where control is in the hands of the rival,
UN-backed Government of National Accord.
Previous reports of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi's release proved to be false.
He
is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against
humanity during his father's unsuccessful attempts to put down the
rebellion.
Another unpredictable element: analysis by Orla Guerin, BBC News, Tripoli
If confirmed, the release of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi would add another unpredictable element to Libya's unstable mix.
He was detained in the desert in November 2011 trying to flee to Niger, and later appeared missing several fingers.
The former playboy often appeared in the West as the public face of the Gaddafi regime and was his father's heir-apparent.
While reviled by many - at home and abroad - he retains some support in Libya and could try to re-enter the political fray here.
The
44-year-old Saif al-Islam - who was controversially granted a PhD by
the London School of Economics in 2008 - was captured in November 2011
after three months on the run following the end of Muammar Gaddafi's
decades-long rule.
Image copyrightReuters
He was previously known for playing a key role in building relations
with the West after 2000, and had been considered the reformist face of
his father's regime. But after the 2011 uprising, he found himself accused of incitement to violence and murdering protesters. Four years later, he was sentenced to death by firing squad following a trial involving 30 of Gaddafi's close associates.
Saif al-Islam: Heir to prisoner
June 1972: Born in Tripoli, Libya, second son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi
February 2011: Uprising against Gaddafi government begins
June 2011: International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Saif al-Islam for crimes against humanity
August 2011: Leaves the capital after Tripoli falls to anti-government forces; flees to Bani Walid
October 2011: Father and younger brother killed
19 November 2011: Captured by militia as he tries to flee south to Niger. Imprisoned in Zintan
July 2015: Sentenced to death by a Tripoli court in absentia
June 2017: Reportedly released after being granted amnesty by one of Libya's two competing governments
