Though the deportation of the head of the British Islam Channel, Mohamed Ali Harrath, has been temporarily blocked by an interim interdict, the questions regarding the basis for his arrest and continued detention — at this stage — have yet to be explained by police authorities or the government.
Accepting for the moment that Interpol had issued a warrant, which was acted upon by authorities at OR Tambo, the South African public have to be asking themselves why a man who is no less than an adviser to Scotland Yard on Islamic extremism would be detained in this way.
Harrath has been fêted by politicians with the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, the minister Shahid Malik and the Tory frontbencher Dominic Grieve attending his annual festival. The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, gave him a platform to address thousands in Trafalgar Square in September at an official taxpayer-funded event to mark the end of Ramadan. (Times of London)
Accordingly this smacks of the sort of treatment that was given to Professor Habib by the United States when he was declined a visa despite any basis to suggest that he was in any way connected to terrorism. That ban has now been rescinded.
More germane to the issue of South Africa is the fact that it was the Tunisian authorities who approached Interpol pursuant to a conviction that was handed down against Harrath in absentia.
The fact that he wasn’t present during the trial should have sounded some alarm bells immediately.
Before fleeing his homeland he had co-founded the Tunisian Islamic Front, which Tunis accused of seeking to establish a Muslim state by armed revolutionary violence. Harrath insists that the organisation was a non-violent political party set up to oppose what he regarded as Tunisia’s one-party rule.
Of course the fact that Harrath’s Islam Channel is broadcast on DStv, that he has been here before and was accepted as a refugee by Britain has gone straight over authorities’ heads. More important is to pander to another African one-party dictatorship where no dissension is tolerated, opposition groups are brutally dealt with and freedom of expression is totally rejected.
In case the people of that country or overseas find out what the one party are really up to.
Anyone who dares to interfere with one-party rule on this continent often becomes classified as a terrorist. Hardly surprising then to find Mohamed Ali Harrath drawing the short straw.
South Africa, instead of leaping to fulfil the request of Tunisia despite the compelling evidence above should have, at best for Tunis, said Harrath would be returned to Great Britain and at worst for them be more than welcome to enjoy his stay.
South Africa as a democracy needs to send a message to Tunisia that unfortunately Mr Harrath has a heart condition and as soon as he is fit to travel will be allowed to continue his South African trip.
Address your complaints to Interpol or Great Britain, we are not interested.
Traps,
On my recent return to South Africa, to visit my family, I started watching the Islam channel. I was shocked to find that the show does not promote tolerance or open mindedness.
I watched one discussion where a caller asked the religious panel what he should do about having the “Kuffar” in his midst. And the imam promptly told him that, as a muslim he should not tolerate non believers in his community or around his family..
The Channel furthermore, had a worrying take on the middle east conflict, glorifying Suicide bombers as defenders of the faith. and promoting violence in place of dialogue.
I wrote a letter to DSTV to protest, the hate speech and blatant incitement.
I am still waiting for a reply
NB Mr Harrath has now been released.
Fortunately he did not die as a result of his heart condition which was inflamed by this incident.
The story was of course done prior to his release.
Sanity prevailed.
Although I dont know the merits of this particular case, I read from this article that Mr Harrath has an arrest warrant, issued by Tunisia, who appears to be a signatory to Interpol, and that they have asked the SA authorities, also a signatory Interpol, to arrest Mr Harrath.
Now if such a one-party state, who dont tolerate opposition or dissent is in power in Tunisia, I wonder why they were considered for membership in Interpol in the first place, as they could then rightfully demand the arrest of people in co-member countries.
Since Britian has afforded Mr Harrath political asylum, and have not acted on any requests by Tunisia, to arrest him, they are undermining the credibility of Interpol, and it wont be long before nobody will take the organisation serious anymore.
The world should prioritise and choose very carefully who they allow to become members of world bodies. If they allow all kinds of despots or regimes membership, they could use these organisations to their own ends, or as soapboxes, to try and justify their policies to the world.
This well written and argued article is now old news, unfortunately, despite being worthy of keeping for records, because Mr. Harath is now a free man again.
Why was Harrath on the Interpol list in the first place? I read recently that Interpol did not involve itself with what one country would describe as a terrorist and another would describe as a hero.
good article. Under Mandela South Africa enjoyed a honeymoon of goodwill in middle eastern countries but Khalid Rashid and now Mohammed Harrath has been detained and harrassed.
The tragedy is that Mohammed Harrath runs an English News Channel and you dont have to guess what he is going to tell his viewers about South African hospitiality.
well done Home Affairs for messing our good name.
Traps,
You should be proud of the fact that the authorities at the airport merely looked at the Interpol database and arrested Harrath. That is how unbiased and objective systems work. Officials at airports during heightened terror alerts should not consider whether you are a celebrity in Britain and fêted by politicians to arrest a terror suspect.
The Nigerian christmas bomber got the US authorities into trouble because he was not in the no-fly-list when he should have been after his father’s warnings to the authorities. Harrath should just liaise with Interpol to clear his name. Then SA officials will not arrest him.
Everyone has suffered from inaccurate classifications as terrorists. Mandela was only removed from the US terror list in 2008 by the US Congress. Even Tokyo had been on a terror list for while. You NEVER accused the USA of dictatorship in these instances as you are accusing South Africa.
ONCE AGAIN THERE IS PROOF OF YOUR SUBJECTIVITY!!!
1. As a member of Interpol, South Africa is under an obligation to act on Interpol arrest warrants.
2. Immigration control officers at airports and police officers at stations are not in a position to determine the validity of such warrants.
3. The fact that a person enjoys the support and confidence of the right wing in Britain does not automatically exempt that person from legal action.
4. The fact that a government is undemocratic does not mean that everybody who sets up an organisation trying to overthrow that government is democratic, or indeed a good person.
As a result of these points, Mr. Trapido’s entire argument collapses in a shower of ruins. He has only his own bigotry to blame for this.
Of course, a valid question is why the South African government decided to let Harrath go. Presumably they either have genuine grave doubts about the validity of the Tunisian court decision (which would be praiseworthy) or they are too spineless to face down the British government (which would be contemptible). Does anyone have any ideas which is the case here?
@Madoda on January 27th, 2010 at 9:48 am
Fully agree with you. We can’t afford to take risks, not now not ever, we need to join the world in the fight against terrorism.
And yes, why was he tried in absentia and why the hell did he not clear his name in the first place? Guys we can’t afford to take chances now.
As a police reserve I am worried about the world cup and not because of crime but more about opportunism from terrorists.
Madoda, well said. It is right that he was arrested.
We live in times where our privacy is being invaded at every turn. Fica, Rica and a whole bunch of other personal inconveniences because of the politically correct. For once I see a job well done.
Harrath’s TV channel is renowned for it’s hatred of non-muslims. There is evidence that he was once involved in funding muslim terrorist organisations.
Britain is home to more crackpot muslims who want Sharia than any other country in Europe. This is beginning to worry the UK’s political allies. Political Correctness has gone crazy in the UK, and many of it’s citizens are getting more and more pissed off with islamic fundamentalists in their midst.
“The Islam Channel is the largest satellite channel aimed specifically at British and European Muslims. Many of its speakers are Islamist extremists from organisations like Hizb ut-Tahrir who use the channel to promote intolerant and bigoted interpretations of Islam. Others are Wahhabi graduates of Saudi universities who have denied the Holocaust and promoted hatred of Shia Muslims. Other presenters are Islamists who have been suspended from their jobs in government due to their extremist statements or who are from organisations that the government has broken ties with due to their leading members’ alleged support for terrorism.”
From the Quillian Foundation article concerning the British Islam Channel. We don’t need people like this Harrath character in this country.