Family fears for jailed Pakistani
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/PrintEdition/News/Article.aspx?id=493450
Man held for over a month awaiting deportation
A PAKISTANI man who was arrested by Home Affairs for being in South Africa illegally is still awaiting deportation in Westville Prison more than a month after he was detained.
Aftaab Ayaz, 27, who worked as a car sales agent at a Durban beachfront dealership, was held by Home Affairs officials on May 15 when he was found to have a bogus work permit.
On Friday, Ayaz entered his 31st day of detention, despite an immigration law stipulating that illegal immigrants cannot be held for more than 30 days.
The law also states that illegal immigrants must be held in centres under the supervision of the department.
Ayaz spent five days in the Durban Central police cells before being transferred to Westville Prison.
This week his family expressed concern about his health and an alleged denial by authorities of his right to Muslim food.
His cousin, Khuram Nagar, said Ayaz was forced to eat non-halaal meals while detained at Durban Central police station.
He said his family had lodged a complaint with the Islamic Society of SA after police refused them permission to provide him with specially prepared halaal food.
“The police were rude and arrogant towards me,” said Nagar. “We follow a strict diet, and all I wanted to do was to make sure that my cousin was provided with halaal meals.”
Nagar alleged that police officers treated them “like filth” because they were Pakistani nationals.
“I came here for a better life with my family, but the police are making it miserable for us. They become aggressive when they hear our accent and treat us like outcasts.”
Home Affairs provincial head Munde Maqula said Ayaz was detained after failing to produce a valid Pakistani passport and, instead, showed officials a photocopied colour document.
Maqula said Ayaz’s permit showed that it was issued at the department’s Germiston offices, but when officials tried to verify the document, they discovered that it was fraudulent.
He said Ayaz was being held in custody pending deportation, but the civil servants’ strike had delayed the process.
“His lawyers indicated that they are in possession of a blank passport, which bears no endorsements of his residence status in SA, but have failed to produce the document.”
He said Ayaz had also claimed to be single, but his lawyers had produced a marriage certificate indicating that he was married to Riona Lachman in August last year.
“We found that the marriage certificate was printed a week ago and was recorded in the department’s database a day before. It is strange for a marriage officer to solemnise a marriage in Durban and record data in Mabopane in Limpopo province.”
In 2005, SA officials arrested Ayaz’s countryman, Khalid Rashid, and detained him before eventually handing him over to the Pakistani government.
Rashid’s mysterious extradition caused an international outcry after human rights groups claimed that he had been taken to an unknown destination before being transferred to the notorious Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba by US security officials.
On Friday, the president of the SA Prisoners’ Organisation for Human Rights, Golden Miles Bhudu, criticised Ayaz’s continued detention, saying he should not have been sent to Westville Prison in the first place.
He said Ayaz should have been kept at the Lindelani repatriation camp to await deportation.
“If he is suspected of criminal activity, he must be charged and the SAPS should take over the investigation,” said Bhudu. “If he is found guilty, he could be either detained for fraud or deported with immediate effect.”
Ayaz’s family said they were devastated when Ayaz was forced to eat non-halaal food.
The family approached Inspector Mahomed Rashid Dawood of the SAPS Islamic Society for assistance in providing Ayaz with the required diet.
Dawood said he could make arrangements for the provision of halaal food for one night only, but was refused permission afterwards.
“I managed to make arrangements for halaal food to be accepted for one night, as I am aware that the food was prepared in a non-halaal-compliant kitchen. But the family had problems again the next day,” he said.
SAPS spokesman Commissioner Bala Naidoo denied the allegations by Dawood and said police were not anti- Muslim. He said the cell commander was not informed about the detainee’s special request.
“We are making sure that there is adequate security measures at our cells. We provide food for everybody. Should a person be detained in the cells and identify that he or she belongs to the Muslim faith, we will acquire the food from a Muslim service provider,” said Naidoo.
