Penny Dale

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Relatives and friends of The Imam , who died 50 Years ago, while writing against racism in South Africa , traumatized still by the time of his Death , the BBC's Penny Dale .

Two momentous events in Cape Town in South Africa on the 29. September 1969.

The First was a huge Funeral March of approximately 40,000 people carried The Coffin of Imam Abdullah Haron, about 10 kilometers (six miles) to its final resting place in the Mowbray Muslim cemetery.

And in the night, a rare, massive earthquake shook the earth.

For many who are at The Funeral , these two events are indelibly Connected to each other - they say the Death of a groundbreaking 45-year-old South African Imam was so painful and shocking.

Imam Haron died in a police cell on September 27, After 123 days of solitary confinement and daily interrogations about his involvement in the fight against the racist system of apartheid in 1994 ended with the election of Nelson Mandela as South Africa 's first Black President .

Imam Haron was The First cleric of any faith to die in detention under the apartheid regime. His Death signaled that men were God's safe from an increasingly repressive, white-supremacist state.

The Artist , named After the imamHis Death caused worldwide outrage, and he was The First Muslim to be reminiscent of the famous St Paul's Cathedral in London.

the safety of The Police said he died After a fall down a flight of stairs.

you said that the two broken ribs and 27 blue spots on Imam Haron body had nothing to do with them, despite their awareness for the use of torture and beatings.

The Imam of The Family say that they don't accept the "lie" and a fresh investigation on the occasion of 50 Years until his Death .

tens of thousands of people attended The Imam 's funeral, despite the danger, to Secure the arrest of The Campaign is a visual artist Haroon Gunn-Salie - who is named in honor of The Imam and has several art works of memoriali sing his Life and his Death .

Gunn-Salie's latest work, Crying for justice, is an installation on the site of The Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town - a symbolic grave-field of 118 unmarked graves, for the people, he says, died in detention during the apartheid era, including Imam Haron.

they were all held without a court and The Police said she fell down the stairs, slipped in the shower, or it took to jump Out of the Windows.

', A cry to the courts" no One has ever responsible for these deaths in detention, and it is a wound, open wound for the families.

When you are finished, seen from The Castle up The Graves he has dug Salie, is the spelling checker, the word: the justice in that?

"The work of art as much as a cry to heaven, a call to the courts," says Gunn-Salie.

"It's trench, to ask a public opinion, quite literally, to unbury The Past and to dig up the files, up The Evidence and bring closure to the families. "

you may also be interested in: Sad, his 93-year-old widow Galiema Haron is on Sunday, exactly 50 Years After her husband's funeral, without a closure.

a tribute to their ruling African National Congress MP Faiez Jacobs said: "a Widow of the, what appeared, was a deliberate killing, she raised her children alone, always asked how her beloved husband had died.

"If the apartheid rulers thought they could kill the spirit, they were wrong. She stood erect, defiant and principled. "

Imam Haron was One of the youngest imams in South Africa - Only 32 when he was appointed in 1955, the leadership of the Assembly at the Stegmann road mosque in Cape Town .

He was a pioneer in Cape Town is mostly conservative mixed-race Muslim Community .

Imam Haron widow, Galiema, stayed for your children to take care of, including Fatiema He turned people's universities, discussion groups, in which the subjects were selected to participate in the Young People and encouraged Women . And he invited the children to sit at The Front of the mosque, but the back, and lead prayers.

He also called on the people from outside the Muslim Community - including trade unionists and liberal politicians -to come and speak with Young People about what was happening in South Africa .

"He is not fit the pattern of the Muslim clergy, which was quite a ritual," says Aneez Salie, a journalist, a Former Member of the ANC's armed wing, and the father of The Artist Gunn-Salie.

"He was very progressive, ahead far of its time," said Mr Salie, who said on 13-visited The Imam of The Funeral , the BBC.

'James Bond ' fans ' Fatiema Haron-Masoet - the youngest Imam Haron's three children - had almost died six, when her father.

"He is a gentle soul, he was a very kind and loving and very emotionally responsive, she told the BBC.

The Imam 's son, Muhammed Haron , now a theology professor in Botswana, was 12 when his father died.

He remembers his father as a deeply spiritual man who fasted twice a week, since he was a Teenager - and wherever he went, he wore a black, kafiya, the traditional Arab head scarf or fez.

"This is his identity - is a theological man, A Man from the Muslim Tradition . "

The Muslim prayer hats represent mourning for The Imam of The Funeral ceremony, dressed in this artwork by Haroon Gunn-Salie, But he was also a "salon lion" and "A Man , larger than Life " - well, charming, with a Sweet Tooth and a passion for rugby, cricket and The Cinema .

The Imam had his own projector and Muhammed remembers groups of The Imam -friends gather at The Family home, where his father, screen films, "often beyond midnight on a Friday and Saturday".

The Imam was a big fan of the fictional spy James Bond . Perhaps with a twinkle in his Eye , he called his home to Golden Eye to the extensive Jamaican estate of Ian Fleming , Creator of 007.

Golden Eye , a double-storey house, had developed a large balcony and the railing, as the notes.

"the music was not saying Theo approved logically by the conservatives," Muhammed.

"But My Father was theologically able to skirt around Some of these issues previously regarded as Taboo . "

"He had explained to a broader view of things rather than a narrow term," Muhammed.

What apartheid was? Imam Haron, the willingness to forge alliances with people of other races, as well as with Christians and Communists, made him desperate to be a special threat to an increasingly brutal regime, to divide and rule.

the Former rugby player Yusuf "Jowa" of Abraham - One of The Imam -to - student remembers how The Imam tried to increase the awareness in the Muslim Community over the injustices of apartheid, especially for those who have the most hit by the apartheid, the cruel and racist legislation, black South Africans.

"He said to us, we need to break racial barriers and work on The Future ," said Mr Abrahams told the BBC.

challenged 'barbaric' lawsThe Imam practiced what he preached, regularly visit the communities of The Black population in townships such as Langa, Gugulethu and Nyanga, where he was affectionately referred to as mfundisi, or priest.

as well As an Imam Haron also worked as a salesman for confectionery company Wilson-Rowntree. This job he was able to move legally in and Out of the townships, even After the apartheid regime, the movement of people is limited, and separated South Africa along racial lines, with laws such as The Group Areas Act.

The apartheid regime was intolerant of dissent In a public meeting in Cape Town Drill Hall in may 1961, The Imam condemned the law as "inhuman, barbaric and UN-Islamic". Four years later, like millions of other South Africans, The Imam and His Family were forced Out of their own home.

Most of the other imams were too scared to speak or they were indifferent to the content be Left Alone , to believe, to worship in peace, that it is not their duty to stand up to a repressive government.

is believed But Imam Haron otherwise, and he began attending clandestine anti-apartheid operations.

Praised as 'martyrs' at St Paul's, which He kept on purpose, The Details of what was exactly involved in it, a secret from his wife and his Assembly, in order to protect you.

Mr Abraham believes that The Imam , "died with His Secrets ".

he is, However, have developed a reputation for close relations with the then banned ANC) and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), both of which lead to an Armed Struggle , and The Black wings - a non-violent legal and animal protection movement by volunteers white Women .

Canon John Collins (L) paid tribute to Imam Haron at the St Paul's Cathedral In 1966, and at the end of 1968, The Imam went on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia . He will meet also secretly traveled to Egypt, political exiles, and The World Islamic Council.

And he went to London to study, where his oldest daughter, Shamela was. There he met Canon John Collins of St Paul's Cathedral, an Anglican priest, the imprisoned, the procurement of money for the needy families of political activists who had been killed, or forced into exile.

apartheid, black interest, south africa

Source of news: bbc.com