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Pr detention of two sa muslims in uganda on charges of terrorism

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22 August 2008

Press Release

Detention of Two SA Muslims in Uganda on charges of “Terrorism”

The MEDIA REVIEW NETWORK (MRN) and MUSLIM JUDICIAL COUNCIL (MJC) express their deep concern at the arrest and detention of two Muslim South Africans in Uganda on the spurious charges of "terrorism".
 
The Islamic cleric Mufti Bhayat and Haroon Saley, from the Crescent of Hope organisation, are well known in the community for their selfless devotion in serving the poor and the destitute, for several decades.
 
The MRN and MJC are outraged that Muslims of undeniable integrity and a track-record of poverty alleviation have been profiled as "terrorists". This feeds into the orchestrated frenzy of 42that can only be detrimental to the harmonious relationship currently enjoyed by our people on the continent.
 
The MRN is preparing to send our Chairperson, Iqbal Jassat, to accompany Zahid Asmal of Channel Islam International, to Uganda, to make an assessment of the case.

The MRN and MJC have urged the Minister of Intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils, to intervene immediately and seek the release of our citizens back to our shores.
 
Issued by:
Dr Firoz Osman
Secretary-General
Media Review Network
082 337 6976

(Media Review Network is an advocacy group based in Tshwane (Pretoria), South Africa)

 

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South African humanitarian workers arrested in uganda suspected of so called terrorist activities

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By Tahir Sema

Foreign Affairs confirmed today that two South African men have been arrested in Uganda.

Spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa says "Consular services have managed to confirm the arrest of these two South Africans".

He says "At this stage, efforts are underway to visit them in prison to offer them consular services". Mamoepa says the circumstances of their arrests were not yet known.

However, Radio Islam reports that the men are Islamic cleric Mufti Hussain Bhayat, of Lenasia, and Haroon Saley, of Azaadville.

They were en route to Uganda from Kenya and were to have arrived at OR Tambo International airport on Wednesday morning.

Ugandan sources told the radio station the two were detained on Sunday at the Entebbe International Airport in Kampala, Uganda.

"A government source confirmed this saying that they were stopped by the Joint Anti-Terrorism Task Force of Uganda".

"Ugandan defence and army spokesperson, Major Paddy Ankunda says the two are being held by the chieftaincy of military intelligence in Uganda.

"He says they are suspected of being allegedly involved in so-called terrorism activities and that is what’s being investigated."

Radio Islam said that, according to Ankunda, the two had not been tortured.

The Chairman of Media Review Network Iqbal Jassat has expressed deep concern about the detention of these two people who are well known for their humanitarian and relief work.

On behalf of MRN we would urge the South African government to immediately intervene in securing their release. We find it outrageous that Muslim relief workers are constantly harassed under this discredited war on terror.

 

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Mrn exclusive seven month stint in sudan

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MRN News Service – A division of Media Review Network

Written by Yazeed Kamaldien for MRN (2008)
 
 “Living in a country that just came out of a 21-year civil war and that still battles with Darfur gets to you, but the people are amazing.” That’s the standard response to anyone who asks the inevitable: “What was it like?”
 
You know, nobody asks for the hard-knocked life. And that’s not what I expected during a seven-month stint in Sudan to acquire the Arabic tongue, work with aid agencies and bleed words from my fingertips as a freelance journalist.
 
I landed in a boiling Khartoum – this North African country’s capital city – on July 1 2007. I had enrolled for an Arabic language course at the International University of Africa, but should have guessed that facilities would be way less than grand.
 
This so-called university seemed worse off than a poverty-stricken primary school in rural South Africa.
 
I was also introduced to the world of aid agencies; those organisations that aim to Make Things Better in conflict hotspots like Darfur. This took me to various parts of Sudan and offered insight into the strength and resilience of the warm Sudanese citizens. It also brought me face-to-face with the military regime that governs this land with little mercy.
 
These trips took me back to the first time I visited Darfur, in October 2004, to accompany a South African aid agency to deliver aid to displaced persons. During that trip, children’s smiles reached out to me, somewhat in defiance of their miserable fate in a refugee camp near Al Fashir town in Darfur.
 
By the time I returned, my responsibility with one particular aid agency was to photograph and write about relief activities, which exposed me to the depth of need in Sudan.
 
This country has been plagued with conflict for almost as long as I have been alive. Its post-colonial history started in 1956, when England and Egypt handed back the reigns of leadership to the local population.
 

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Iran truck accident kills 30 Afghans

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At least 30 Afghans were killed and 83 injured when a truck overturned in southern Iran today.

Local medical official Mohammad Ali Ghanaat Pisheh says that the casualties were among a total of 125 Afghan illegal immigrants traveling in the 10-wheeler.

The cause of the early morning accident in the village of Khiareh in Fars province was still under investigation.

According to state radio, two trucks were traveling together carrying Afghan nationals, but only one of them was involved in the accident.

The Afghan nationals had illegally crossed Iran’s southeastern borders to make a living mainly by working on construction sites.

Each of the Afghans had paid 5,000,000 rials (520 dollars) to human traffickers to transport them from Zahedan, the capital of the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan to the southern city of Shiraz.

The head of political department of the Shiraz governor office, Vahid Rajaie, was quoted as saying "This matter should be examined that how two trucks carrying humans have made it from Sistan-Baluchestan to Fars province".

Shiraz is the capital of the southern province of Fars.

Officially, there are around 900,000 legal Afghan refugees in Iran but the number of illegal Afghans could be twice that number.

Iran’s roads are among the most dangerous in the world. At least 100,000 people have been killed in traffic accidents over the past five years in a country of some 70 million people.

SAPA-AFP

 

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