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Date: | Sun, 15 Jul 2001 20:58:45 EDT |
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Kanifing residents express Solidarity with Imam Baba Lee
Shortly after his arrest on Friday by the National Intelligence Agency over
remarks he made during one of his Friday sermons, the Imam of the Kanifing
East mosque Baba Lee has received the overwhelming support and solidarity of
members of his congregation and the residents of the Kanifing Estate. Abdou
Mbye, a civil servant condemned the arrest, arguing that Imam Lee was merely
expressing his opinions about the extravagancies in the society and other
social vices, which he said has been condemned by Islam. He therefore urged
him to continue with his work in accordance with the teachings of Islam.
For his part, Momodou Manneh also condemned Imam Lee's arrest by the NIA. He
said if Imam Lee could be arrested just for speaking against the wastage of
public resources on unnecessary ceremonies, then he said no one is now safe
in this country. He added that all the other imams at one time or the other
also speak against such vices in the society. Therefore he said he could not
see why Imam Lee should be victimized for doing exactly what he is expected
to do as a religious leader. He however urged Imam Lee not to be daunted in
his duty to talk against the vices of the society.
Ebrima Janneh, an Islamic scholar at Serign Mass Kah Senior Secondary school,
in his turn said from the Islamic point of view, wastage of public resources
is wrong and should be condemned. He therefore commended Imam Lee for
speaking against such things. A businessman Bai Omar said Imam Lee's arrest
for what he said during his sermon was unjustified. He said Imam Lee is a man
of truth and justice and that he was just exercising his religious mandate an
imam to talk to his congregation about issues of concern to the society and
he saw no justification in arresting him for that. He however expressed the
confidence that Imam lee was not going to be intimidated by such harassment
and that he will continue to always stand for the truth and justice for
everyone.
One woman who spoke on condition of anonymity pointed out that the arrest of
Imam Lee was meant to prevent him from talking about those issues that the
government does not want him to talk about. She said the arrest was once
again another manifestation of how uncomfortable the government is about
freedom of speech. Amie Sarr, a housewife said imam Lee's arrest may have
been a pre-emptive move to prevent him from criticizing the wastage of
resources during the cultural festival recently held in Kanilai.
All the other fifteen people who spoke to our reporter expressed similar
sentiments, but one woman advised Imam Lee not to be confrontational with the
authorities. She however added that the NIA should not have arrested him just
for exercising his mandate as Imam to speak against anything that he saw as
wastage of public resources.
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