Super Whacky Muslim Fun Time: Genie in a Basement

This would be even more funny if it were not so tragic.

A Saudi man has been chained in a basement apartment for more than six years because his father believes he is possessed by an evil female genie. 'When he has fits he has convulsions and his entire body twists and his eyes become completely white,' said the father of the 29-year-old man who has been identified only as Turki. 'Then the voice of a woman can be heard coming from him.'

When Turki first began behaving bizarrely, his father took him to local Muslim clerics to recite the Koran over him. 'But most of them became scared when they heard the female voice telling them that she was a royal jinn (genie) and that no-one can exorcise her unless Turki dies,' his father said. One cleric advised him to shackle his son’s arms and legs in chains and read the Koran to him.