Pretoria, Jan 28, IRNA – The head of Britain’s main Muslim TV station was freed by a court in South Africa yesterday after being detained because he is still wanted by Interpol for alleged terrorism.
Lawyers for Mohamed Ali Harrath, 46, are now expected to go to court to challenge what they see as his wrongful arrest when he arrived in Johannesburg on a flight from London on Sunday.
Harrath’s Islam Channel accused him of misleading Interpol resulting in a worldwide request in 1992 to arrest him over terrorism, forgery and arms allegations.
“There’s just a feeling that injustice has been done. This was an issue from 20 years ago, a political matter that happened back in Tunisia. I was fighting for justice and I am proud of what I did,” he told reporters after being released.
Harrath helped found the Tunisian Islamic Front which opposed what he regarded as his country’s one-party rule.
Tunis accused the organisation of seeking to establish a Muslim state by armed revolution but he insists it was a non-violent political party, for this reason flyed to RSA because as he says “I consider myself as a friend of South Africa, who knows more than anyone about injustice.”
He fled to Britain which accepted him as a refugee, because Islam Channel is watched by 59 per cent of British Muslims and he has been courted by senior politicians of all parties.
After a while he also became an adviser to Scotland Yard against Islamic extremism. In September the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, gave him a platform to address thousands of Muslims in Trafalgar Square at the city’s celebrations for the end of Ramadan.
As he siad to reporters, he has been fighting for years to remove the Interpol Red Notice, its highest state of alert.
South Africa is one of 132 countries where Islam Channel is available and it is the only Islamic Channel other than Al-Jazira, on SA Multichoice DSTV .
Analysts predicts this decision by the South African court may affect the friendly relation of RSA and Tunisia.