Gya: Iranian cleric whacked

THE Iranian cleric who was kidnapped in Georgetown last month was executed and his body buried in a shallow grave, police reported yesterday.

Police said Mohammad Hassan Ebrahimi, 35, was shot twice in the head and buried in a grave about three feet deep, some 400 yards off the St. Cuthbert's Mission trail and about three-and-a-half miles in from the Linden/Soesdyke highway.

The partly decomposed body was found after residents told police there was an unbearable stench from a point on the trail leading to the Amerindian settlement at St. Cuthbert's.

Police said they dug up the grave at about 18:15 hrs Tuesday and found the body lying face down with the mouth taped, hands tied behind the back and feet tied.

There were two gunshot wounds to the head, police said in a statement.

The body was positively identified by Abdul Kadir of the school, which Ebrahimi headed, and a close friend of the family, police said.
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Ebrahimi was forced into a getaway motorcar after gunmen discharged a volley of bullets at his car which was parked outside the International Islamic College for Advanced Studies (IICAS) on Brickdam, Georgetown on the night of April 2, last.

His administrator, Raymond Halley was shot in the foot but escaped the kidnappers.

Police here were baffled by the abduction because Ebrahimi's captors did not contact his family and made no ransom demand.

Sounds like this was never about a kidnapping but was actually a hit. The issue is, what's going on in the Muslim community in Guyana that somebody would want to have this guy whacked?