Libyan case sparks questions

2004-04-22 00:08

Erika Gibson

Pretoria - Questions about police detentions and legal procedures apparently not being followed in the cases of several foreign Muslims, were raised on Wednesday after the extradition hearing of a Libyan national in Pretoria magistrate's court.

Ebrahim Ali Abubaker Tantoush, 38, was released on R8 000 bail pending his extradition to Libya.

He is wanted there on charges of stealing gold, which was allegedly used to finance terrorist activities.

Abeda Bhamjee of the University of the Witwatersrand legal clinic, who represented Tantoush in his asylum application, said on Wednesday that she was concerned about the fairness of the administrative process in this case.

Tantoush arrived in South Africa on November 1 last year after being deported from Indonesia with a false South African passport.

He was still in custody on January 7 this year without having access to a legal representative.

During this time, intelligence agents from South Africa, Britain and America apparently questioned him without him having legal assistance.

Arrested him on the gold-theft allegations

Bhamjee said these agents found no information that gave them reason to detain Tantoush.

He was granted temporary asylum, but he was still detained until his legal representatives threatened to apply for a High Court interdict.

When he went to renew his asylum permit at the home affairs department a month later, Interpol arrested him on the gold-theft allegations.

Bhamjee said this arrest was illegal since a formal extradition application has not been sent to South Africa from Libya.

She suspected Libya trumped up the charges against Tantoush after the South African branch of Interpol alerted them that he had applied for asylum.

Rubena Peer, another of Tantoush's legal representatives, said on Wednesday there were several discrepancies in the case against him.

"He allegedly committed the theft in 1985, but no one acted against him even although he left Libya only in 1988.

"It is also unclear why the case against him was suddenly formulated in December - 18 years after the alleged offence.

"Tantoush has suddenly been linked to Al-Qaeda, but this organisation did not exist in 1985. At the time, Libya itself was also involved in acts of terror."

SA 'intervention'

Bhamjee said it was of concern that the charges against Tantoush seemed to be fabricated.

The South African authorities' "intervention" in the asylum process, as well as the fact that Interpol South Africa apparently alerted Libya to Tantoush's arrest while there was no international warrant for his arrest at the time, raised even more questions.

Several other Muslims were being held in South Africa in similar circumstances, she claimed.

- Beeld