I got thrugh the following first paragrpha of the first article:

Pietermaritzburg - A South African Muslim cleric and his son remain in
detention in The Gambia for what media reports have said are allegations
of South African connections to al-Qaeda activities in various regions of
the world.

I didn't get any furhter, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry!? 
South African connections to Al-Qaeda?!  I don't think George W. Bush
couldhave come upw ith anything more preposterous than that?!  If
there is South African connections to Al-Qaeda, why doesn't the US
know abou tit?  Or maybe it does, I don't know...  Oh, my I just don't
know what lese to say.

This is just really strange.

Ginny



On 10/18/05, Gambia Talk <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Here's a bit more detail from Pretoria News.
>
> -BambaLaye
>
> ============================================================================
>
> City Muslim clerics held and in Gambia
>
> By Hanti Otto
>
> A Pretoria father and son, both religious leaders in the Muslim community,
> have been arrested by Gambian security forces.
>
> The Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed that moulanas
> (clerics) Farhaad Ahmed Dockrat and his son Muaaz had been detained in
> Gambia.
>
> The department, however, would not say when or why they were arrested.
>
> Members of the Muslim community were earlier requested in mosques to pray
> for the Erasmia pair's release, shortly after they failed to return to
> South Africa on October 4.
>
> Farhaad Dockrat, in his mid-40s, has been the principal of the Darus
> Salaam Islamic College in Laudium for the past 20 years. His son, in his
> 20s, is a lecturer there.
>
> Family member Ashraf Dockrat last night said the two men left South Africa
> for Senegal on September 27. They were accompanied by a Gambian student,
> Hafiz Omar Saikou Wally, who studied at the college where the two moulanas
> taught. "Mr Wally would have taken them from Senegal to Gambia in a
> vehicle to show them the teaching methods used in the Islamic centres in
> that region," said Dockrat, speaking on behalf of the family.
>
> However, the father and son did not return home as planned.
>
> "When they failed to arrive, the family contacted a person in Dhaka,
> Senegal. This person followed their trail to a lodge, but there the trail
> went cold. They had no contact with anyone in South Africa since they
> left.
>
> "It was also confirmed that Mr Wally had no contact with his family in
> Gambia and they haven't received the parcel of textbooks Mr Wally was
> supposed to give them," Dockrat said.
>
> The men's worried family contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs the
> same day they failed to return home.
>
> Yesterday the department informed them that the three travellers were
> being held by Gambian security services.
>
> A prominent scholar of the Tshwane Muslim School, who preferred not to be
> named, said the family and community feared that the CIA might be
> involved, claiming that any travelling Muslim was regarded as a terrorist.
>
> A local businessman concurred, adding that Muslims were intimidated and
> victimised everywhere, including in South Africa. He claimed all Muslims
> were being blamed for the recent bombings in England and Bali.
>
> Another community member alleged that the Dockrats were arrested because
> one of Farhaad Dockrat's students, arrested in Pakistan last year, was
> alleged to have had links with al-Qaeda. This could, however, not be
> confirmed.
>
> Ismail Zoubair was released along with another South African, Feroze
> Ganchi, by the Pakistani authorities without being charged.
>
> It was claimed at the time that Zoubair had studied under Farhaad Dockrat
> in Laudium prior to Zoubair's arrest in Pakistan during a raid on a house
> in which firearms, ammunition, explosive vests and maps were allegedly
> found.
>
> Foreign Affairs spokesman Nomfanelo Kota confirmed that departmental
> officials had met with the family yesterday. She said they would keep in
> contact with the family and inform them of any news on the father and son.
>
>  Published on the web by Pretoria News on October 10, 2005.
>
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--
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