photographed. He refused to show his injuries to a reporter with Aftonbladet when asked.
If true, the case echoes that of Ashley Todd, a volunteer of the US Presidential campaign of Republican John McCain, who claimed she was assaulted and had the letter “B” carved into her face by an African-American supporter of Democrat Barack Obama. The attack was later proven to be self-inflicted by Todd, who may have been part of a discrediting campaign by the Internet group Anonymous.

A senior SAA captain is facing dismissal after using a racist remark while dealing with a ground technician.

The highly experienced pilot was sitting in the cockpit of the aircraft when he used the k-word over the interphone system with the ground, which, unbeknown to him, was live.

The ground technician, whowas in communication with the flight deck, heard the remark.

SAA's head of corporate communications, Fani Zulu, confirmed yesterday that the incident had occurred in June and that a hearing had been held.

"The process is nearing completion and a decision will be taken in the next few days. Meanwhile, the pilot, who was grounded, was on full pay, which was stopped on Friday," said Zulu.

Captain John Harty, chairman of the SAA Pilots' Association (Saapa), said yesterday that although it did not condone racist remarks and that sanction was justified, it was felt that, under the circumstances, the recommendation of dismissal was too harsh.

"The captain had been flying for more than 16 hours and had had technical problems in Accra prior to departure," said Harty. "After arriving at OR Tambo