Is it halal to buy government prize bonds if they can be sold any time and one can get the original money back?

The Islamic Fiqh Council has researched the matter of dealing in bonds and issued the following statement:

Bonds which represent a commitment to pay the face value plus interest, or conditional benefits, are haraam according to Shari’ah, whether one is buying, selling or handling them, because they are considered to be interest-based loans. This applies whether they are issued by private companies or by public bodies run by the state. The fact that they are forbidden is not affected by giving them other names such as “certificates”, “investment documents” or “savings”, or calling the interest “profit”, “commission” or “returns”.

Also forbidden are bonds that offer prizes, because these are loans made on the condition that the benefits or increase will go to the group loaning the money, or to one of them, who is not specified at the time of investment, in addition to the fact that this is based on the idea of gambling. [1]

Reference:

[1] http://islamqa.info/en/2143