ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A 17-year-old boy was killed in Erbil by his second cousin over a PUBG gift card, say police.
Teenager Mohammad Ismael on Saturday was found bleeding on the ground of an alley in the Kurdistan Regional capital’s neighborhood of Nawroz by Omar Rizgar, who works nearby. He was rushed to the hospital in Rizgar’s car, but passed away before reaching the facility. Erbil police later arrested the deceased’s second cousin, who is deaf and mute, on suspicion for the murder.
“After investigation, we found out that the two (the suspect and the deceased) played [PUBG] over a PUBG Gift Card worth 10 thousand Iraqi Dinars,” police spokesman Hogir Aziz told Rudaw. “The killer won, and the deceased refused to pay him, which led to a fight between them.”
“Because the killer is deaf and mute, we have not been able to get a statement from him,” he added.
Omar Rizgar was among the first people to get to the crime scene and he told Rudaw what he observed.
“I heard a loud cry for help, and I ran to see a body lying on the ground. The killer had already escaped,” he said.
“I lifted him into my car with the help of a few others, and rushed him to the hospital, but he did not make it,” he added.
“The doctors said that he was stabbed seven times, two of which I saw myself,” he said.
Rudaw spoke to the father of the deceased, and he claimed that the family had had no issues with the killer previously.
“We have handed the case to the authorities, and will abide by whatever decision they make,” Ismael Farhan, father of the deceased told Rudaw.
PUBG stands for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. It is an online multiplayer game within a genre known as Battle Royale. In it, 100 players drop into an abandoned map. Upon landing, they have to find gear and supplies to kill other players in order to be the last man standing in the zone as the map shrinks. In 2018, the game’s developers announced they had 400 million players worldwide.
In October 2018, the Islamic religious authority in Sulaimani issued a fatwa against PUBG, claiming it wastes young people's time.
In April 2019, the Iraqi parliament even voted in favour of banning all video games that “threaten social, moral, and educational security.”
Additional reporting by Hadi Salimi and Samia Hassan
Teenager Mohammad Ismael on Saturday was found bleeding on the ground of an alley in the Kurdistan Regional capital’s neighborhood of Nawroz by Omar Rizgar, who works nearby. He was rushed to the hospital in Rizgar’s car, but passed away before reaching the facility. Erbil police later arrested the deceased’s second cousin, who is deaf and mute, on suspicion for the murder.
“After investigation, we found out that the two (the suspect and the deceased) played [PUBG] over a PUBG Gift Card worth 10 thousand Iraqi Dinars,” police spokesman Hogir Aziz told Rudaw. “The killer won, and the deceased refused to pay him, which led to a fight between them.”
“Because the killer is deaf and mute, we have not been able to get a statement from him,” he added.
Omar Rizgar was among the first people to get to the crime scene and he told Rudaw what he observed.
“I heard a loud cry for help, and I ran to see a body lying on the ground. The killer had already escaped,” he said.
“I lifted him into my car with the help of a few others, and rushed him to the hospital, but he did not make it,” he added.
“The doctors said that he was stabbed seven times, two of which I saw myself,” he said.
Rudaw spoke to the father of the deceased, and he claimed that the family had had no issues with the killer previously.
“We have handed the case to the authorities, and will abide by whatever decision they make,” Ismael Farhan, father of the deceased told Rudaw.
PUBG stands for PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. It is an online multiplayer game within a genre known as Battle Royale. In it, 100 players drop into an abandoned map. Upon landing, they have to find gear and supplies to kill other players in order to be the last man standing in the zone as the map shrinks. In 2018, the game’s developers announced they had 400 million players worldwide.
In October 2018, the Islamic religious authority in Sulaimani issued a fatwa against PUBG, claiming it wastes young people's time.
In April 2019, the Iraqi parliament even voted in favour of banning all video games that “threaten social, moral, and educational security.”
Additional reporting by Hadi Salimi and Samia Hassan
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