Rashid: SA doing damage control

2006-06-13 18:39

Pretoria - South Africa's image has been harmed internationally by the Khalid Mahmood Rashid case, said deputy foreign affairs minister Aziz Pahad on Tuesday.

There had been a lot of publicity locally and internationally about the case and many people now believed South Africa was among countries that endorsed extraordinary rendition of people.

"We want to deny that," said Pahad.

Although his department was not involved in the Rashid case it would have to see how it could "minimise" the "negative messages".

"It's a matter with which the government is concerned and we will try to resolve it as quickly as we can," Pahad said.

This comes after Rashid's lawyer Zehir Omar, asked the international criminal court on Monday to investigate his client's disappearance from South Africa.

Home affairs said he'd been deported

Rashid disappeared at the end of last year from Estcourt where he was picked up in a night raid on his home for being an illegal immigrant.

His arrest was contested in court, but home affairs officials said Rashid was deported to Pakistan within days of his arrest.

There were fears in the Muslim community, however, that Rashid may have been taken to an international detention centre.

- SAPA