Man claiming to be Muhammad Ali’s kidnapped son spared jail time in Dublin

Ibn Muhammad Ali, who claims to be famous boxer Muhammad Ali’s kidnapped son, has avoided jail time after being arrested in Dublin.

Ali pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to a breach of the peace in Smithfield on August 7 and failure to comply with a caution to leave the area peacefully, according to the Irish Examiner.

He also pleaded guilty to giving gardaí a false address - a Muhammad Ali tourist center in the US.

Ali had reportedly been camping outside of the US Embassy in Dublin after arriving from England several weeks ago. Ali’s assigned solicitor Kate McGhee told the court her client had come to Ireland to research his family background in Ennis, Co Clare, where Muhammad Ali had relatives.

(Indeed, Muhammad Ali's great-grandfather Abe O'Grady emigrated to the US from Ennis. Abe's granddaughter Odessa was Muhammad's mother.)

McGhee told the court that her client had lived in London for 21 years and had also worked for an advertising firm until a family bereavement in 2012.

However, he now believed his family was in America and wished to get in touch with the US embassy.

A lengthy video posted by Ali on social media on August 4 shows him telling a Garda member how is trying to get in touch with the US embassy to get an American passport, which he believes he is entitled to since, as he claims, he was born in the US. 

In court, Garda Keith Power told Judge Shalom Binchy that he was "flagged down" by Ali, who told him another man had his jumper, which had been stolen from him previously. Ali's belongings had been stolen last week.

The man, however, showed Garda Power a receipt for the jumper, proving it was his.

The court heard Ali started to follow the man and told Garda Power: "If I tried to stop him, he would f---ing kill me.”

Ali was arrested and taken to Bridewell Station after he refused to comply with Garda Power’s caution to leave the area. At the station, Ali produced his driver's license with his name, which was handed into court.

Ali, who had no prior convictions, faced bail objections over concerns about his identity.

"I am a victim of child kidnapping,” Ali told the court, according to the Irish Examiner, “I would like a lawyer; I have always told the truth.”

The court heard that Ali has a blog about his life story, as well as a GoFundMe page.

Noting the guilty plea, Judge Shalom Binchy applied the Probation of Offenders Act, sparing Ali a conviction and a sentence. She told the solicitor she hoped the accused could be persuaded to get some assistance.

Ali has shared numerous social media posts claiming to be the famous boxer’s kidnapped son. In many of them, he has used the caption “ONLY SON OF MUHAMMAD ALI ON PLANET EARTH WITH IRISH HERITAGE FROM ODESSA O’GRADY.”

Some posts also show Ali in Ennis, Co Clare in recent weeks.

Ali has also linked to his GoFundMe, which he says is “to raise these funds to pay my lawyer who is willing to help me get back to my country safely after 40 years lost in the world from a child into an adult.”

As of Wednesday evening, the GoFundMe, which has a goal of £15,000, has received no donations.

On his fundraising page, Ali claims he was born in the US and “was illegally kidnapped as a child and trafficked and abandoned in a foreign society as a kid, given away to strangers who assaulted my well being and natural personality as a child without my parent's knowledge.”

He claims his "facial complexion was tampered with and slightly altered to hide my natural appearance.”

He further claims: “my father's mother is Odessa O'Grady with Irish roots and heritage and would like to point out that what your digital devices portray as me has no form of Caucasian ethnicity in him compared to the natural siblings the media have projected to claim as my physical body and history.”

He added: "I have been switched by someone who looks nothing like my dad or grandmother and the world has no idea."

In July 1972, Muhammad Ali - who was born Cassius Clay - famously fought Al "Blue" Lewis at Dublin's Croke Park. The event was chronicled in the RTÉ documentary "When Ali Came to Ireland."

Ali visited Ireland two more times - once for the World Special Olympics in 2003, where playfully took a punch from Nelson Mandela, and again in 2009 when he visited Co Clare.