The young Afghan football fan catching global attention after being photographed in a Lionel Messi shirt made from a plastic bag, has been forced to flee to Kabul after he apparently received kidnap threats from the Taliban.
Seven-year-old Murtaza Ahmedi became a worldwide sensation when he was photographed wearing the homemade shirt in 2016. He became an instant social media star and eventually met his idol after his iconic images went viral.
Last November, when Taliban fighters launched attacks in his home district of Jaghori in volatile Ghazni province, Murtaza and his family escaped to the relative safety of Bamiyan province in Central Afghanistan. But the threats persisted.
In this file photograph taken on January 29, 2016, Lionel Messi fan Murtaza Ahmedi wears a plastic bag jersey as he plays football in Jaghori district of Ghazni province, Afghanistan. /VCG Photo
The move to the Afghan capital three weeks ago has been painful. Murtaza is the youngest of five children and his family has taken shelter in a room in the Afshar neighborhood in northwest Kabul and has been paying the equivalent of about 90 US dollars a month for the room.
Taliban insurgents stopped local school buses, asking if anyone knew of Murtaza. His mother Shafiqa said that the Taliban have been searching for her son by name.
Murtaza's mother said, “When the Taliban came, we escaped from Jaghori around eight p.m. We were scared. We were sure that the Taliban would ask for Murtaza and our house because they have asked me before why our son doesn't have a photo with the holy Quran but has had a photo with Messi's jersey.”
Meanwhile, the little boy in the eye of the storm said, “I miss my school, and now I cannot go. Whenever I went to school, I thought someone was following me.”