As A Conscientious And Principled Legal Case: “The Case Of Martyr Imam Abdullah Harun And The Support That Must Be Given

While all the support to be given to the cause of Imam Abdullah Harun is important, the most important process is legal support. The fact that international human rights organizations and international humanitarian diplomacy organizations closely follow this process and especially intervene in the case is very important in terms of the impact and meaning it will create as well as the effect it will create. South Africa will have a huge moral impact at the international level as much as it will have in Africa. It is very meaningful that the case is not lost again in a state of uncertainty and that the punishment of the murderers is defined. The punishment to be given to those who martyred Imam Abdullah Harun is a principled and conscientious punishment. This punishment will be given to the regimes that are the planners of the persecution and to the mind.

Human beings sometimes concentrate so much on what is happening behind their age that they lament that they wish we had been there in those days. It is also said that if we had been there that day, we would have made efforts not to write this history in that way, or we would have struggled against this open oppression. In fact, Allah Almighty will hardly lead us; it does not make us responsible for distances that we cannot reach in terms of history, time and space. But sometimes miracles happen, and from time to time, he carries out an event from the past to your toes, accepting your prayers and granting you the opportunity of a service on his way. These are exactly some of these kinds of developments that are happening in South Africa these days.
The trial of Imam Abdullah Harun, who was martyred in prison while fighting against the apartheid regime in South Africa and whose murderers have not been tried for years and whose martyrdom has even been noted as falling down the stairs in a disgusting language, has resumed. This is indeed a historic moment, because it is a conscientious debt for Muslims to Imam Abdullah Harun to remove this hurtful uncertainty and to bring the murderers to a trial. For this reason, in this article, we would like to put forward our proposals for what can be done while discussing this issue with all its dimensions.

Apartheid Regime and Struggle in South Africa
Colonialism
since began in the mid-16th century, in the 18th and 19th centuries which reached intolerable dimensions in Africa in this century. South Africa is a critical country for the colonization movement that has reached savage dimensions in Asia, Africa and South America by Western countries. All ocean-going countries have been more affected by the persecution of Western colonizers.
For the colonists who traded slaves and products through the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa gained value especially as a slave market. Those who sold the people they brought from the inner parts of Africa in the ports by the ocean went to divide the countries among themselves in the following periods. One of the features that make South Africa also valuable has been the excess of underground and above ground values.

In the Republic of South Africa, which is a very rich country in terms of underground mines, mines still constitute 50% of export revenues even today. With its chrome exports, the country alone provides 44% of the chrome exports realized worldwide. In addition, platinum, vanadium and manganese exports have an important place in the country’s economy. Other mines found as underground mines in the country can be defined as gold, diamond, coal, iron ore, nickel, titanium, antimony and palladium. Due to this level of mining infrastructure, it could not be shared between Dutch and British exploitation companies. It is a known fact that each colonizer is greatly traumatized by the two colonial structures due to differences in the way they exploit.
With the influence of the mines in the region, it will be seen that a great increase in prosperity occurred in the 60s and this wealth was distributed only among whites. It must also be said that a struggle against increasing discrimination has taken place.This struggle was supported by all ethnic groups and different ethnic, religious and social groups came together on the basis of the struggle and fought together against apartheid persecution. This is because the apartheid regime (Colord) has a tendency to perceive the Asian societies, which it has colored as a second -class people.
In particular, Muslims became the most active part of this struggle and carried the struggle together with black people. Apartheid persecution continued until the beginning of the 1990s. Nelson Mandela entered the agenda of humanity at a time when this process is now eliminated. Mandela, which stands out among many names in the fight against Apartheid, was rapidly revealed after his release from prison and turned into a political hero.
In South Africa, there is a numerical minority, but there is a Muslim population with high pressure power. In the communities, which have been in the region for a long time and defined as colored, they have confronted the persecution of Apartheid, and they have institutionalized their existence in the region. Martyr Abdullah Harun is a very important figure for the peoples of South Africa with the impact and contribution in the struggle. Imam Harun, who fell into prison in his struggle against the persecution of Apartheid, could not withstand the physical and psychological tortures he suffered and rose to the martyrs office on 27 September 1969 after 123 days of cell imprisonment. Muslims gave blood to the history of South Africa with martyrs. Besides, Ahmet Kahtrada, who has served for decades in prisons. There are Muslim leaders like Yusuf Dadoo.

Imam Abdullah Harun and His Struggle

The most important Muslim leader who was killed by the regime under 123 days of torture because of his heroic stance against the Apartheid Regime, the extreme racist regime implemented in South Africa, is Imam Abdullah Harun.
He was orphaned by the death of his mother when he was a baby, and he grew up next to his aunt.
He began his education in the Islamic schools of his native region, continued with leading religious scholars, and substituted his Islamic education in Mecca.
Imam Harun, who became a hafiz at the age of 14, was 31 years old when he was appointed imam. In addition to his duty, he did an intensive work of irshat and gathered the Muslims around him. In addition to his educational work, he also carried out social work with the financial aid he gave to the poor. He showed special sensitivity to young people and soon founded the Muslim Youth Association.
In his sermons, he criticized the regime of the time and warned the people against the oppression of the period, especially he did not refrain from the struggle against the open oppression of the Apartheid Regime.

Especially when he vehemently opposed the latest prohibitions imposed by the regime at that time, he was followed by the regime authorities and his every step was followed by the agents who interfered with the community, and he considered the pressures as “inhumane, barbaric and un-Islamic” and gave conferences and symposiums. The conferences he gave began to find a response in a wide area.
He established relations with many international NGOs and made a great effort to announce the persecution to the whole world. After the pilgrimage, he crossed into England and when he learned that he was wanted, he sought asylum in Canada. When this request was rejected by the efforts of the British-backed Apartheid regime, he returned to South Africa. He was arrested by regime forces on May 24 and martyred after 123 days of severe torture. On September 27, his family was informed that he had died after falling down a ladder. As a result of the autopsy, there were marks of torture in many parts of his body. There is no doubt that Imam Abdullah Harun, a Muslim leader known for his opposition to the apartheid regime, was martyred under severe torture. Today, all the ill-treatment and torture perpetrated by the Apertheid regime has been exposed and even the world’s first Apartheid Racist Persecution museum is open in South Africa. In the most precious place of the museum there is a visual depicting the struggle of the martyr. While no one in South Africa doubts that Imam Abdullah Harun was martyred, the approach that his martyrdom was a spontaneous fall from the stairs has been accepted and the trial process has been postponed and pushed into uncertainty each time.

Imam Abdullah Harun was murdered. In addition to the reports, all clear indications and practices of the apartheid regime and the widespread disclosures and determinations in its aftermath confirm this. It is significant that despite Mandela’s victorious process, the file of Imam Abdullah Harun was not opened and the initiatives and efforts in this regard were in vain. Has this process been a matter of negotiation for the political process in South Africa, and while all the shames of the apartheid regime have been exposed one by one, the murder of Imam Abdullah Harun has not even been made the subject of judgment. This issue has been a shameful situation not only for the South African state, but also for the Muslims living in South Africa and the Muslims of the whole world. His family’s feeble and timid efforts on the subject have not been reciprocated. This is a conscientious obligation on all of humanity.

Monitoring the Case of Martyrdom of Imam Abdullah Harun and Public Opinion Studies

Although there have been weak attempts to prosecute the murderers of Imam Abdullah Harun, no fruitful steps have been put forward. Nowadays, a development has created a great excitement in the public opinion.
According to South African media reports: Western Cape Supreme Court Judge Daniel Thulaye has been appointed to oversee a reopened investigation into the death of anti-apartheid activist Imam Abdullah Haron. National Prosecution Authority (NPA) Western Cape Procuratorial advocate Nicolette Bell welcomed the appointment and said “many steps have been taken in the NPA to build capacity to ensure the closure of the families of apartheid-era victims.” Lamola’s decision follows an NPA application for the investigation to be reopened to help the original court determine whether it was correct to establish that Haron died by falling down stairs. According to the Department of Justice and Correctional Services, the renewed investigation is expected to take into account expert reports from a state pathologist, an aerospace engineer and an orbital expert, which will provide a new perspective on Haron’s likely cause of death.
https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/western-cape-judge-appointed-to-oversee-inquest-into-death-of-anti-apartheid-activist-abdullah-haron-20220603)

Fifty-three years after the murder of cleric Imam Abdullah Haron by security forces at the Maitland police station in Cape Town on 27 September 1969, a proper investigation is finally on the way.

(https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/news/2022-06-01-finally-proper-inquest-53-years-after-imam-tortured-to-death-by-security-police/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1654141539-1)

The case of Imam Abdullah Harun, which has created great excitement in everyone who cares about rights and justice in South Africa, has great meanings for the Muslims of the world as well as the region. It is very important to follow the issue carefully and to monitor the developments.
In a period when the interest and expert view of Africa from our country is increasing, it is very promising in sharing, studies and news that closely follow the subject. In addition to the journalist İbrahim Tığlı, who we know with his African writings, the efforts of journalist Bekir Sıtkı Şirin in this regard are very valuable in terms of following the developments. However, one of the most valuable efforts is given by Mr. Yakup Ağdağ, the President of the African Youth Association. While following the process through interviews with his family and especially his lawyers, he also tries to inform international human rights organizations about the process with the information notes prepared. As the ‘Monitoring Group for the Martyrdom of Imam Abdullah Harun’s Martyrdom Case’, of which we are a member, I hope we will strive to announce the process to the international public opinion, especially our country.
The fact that the martyrdom of Imam Abdullah Harun has not even been turned into a cause yet is perhaps the strongest indication that the process has not progressed as a result of international pressure. The fact that his asylum application to Canada during his trip to the UK was rejected and other indications show that the issue is overshadowed by international political pressure. Today, the South African Ministry of Justice has filed this lawsuit and even the text of the grounds for the lawsuit is commendable and supportive. Even in terms of not leaving South Africa in the hands of a global widespread political clampdown, the support is very meaningful.
While all the support to be given to the cause of Imam Abdullah Harun is important, the most important process is legal support. The fact that international human rights organizations and international humanitarian diplomacy organizations closely follow this process and especially intervene in the case is very important in terms of the impact and meaning it will create as well as the effect it will create. South Africa will have a huge moral impact at the international level as much as it will have in Africa. It is very meaningful that the case is not lost again in a state of uncertainty and that the punishment of the murderers is defined. The punishment to be given to those who martyred Imam Abdullah Harun is a principled and conscientious punishment. This punishment will be given to the regimes that are the planners of the persecution and to the mind.
A similar study had previously been carried out in Bangladesh in partnership with UHİB and Cansuyu, and the impact it had on the region was indescribable. The influence and morale created by the lawyers of the UHİB and Cansuyu, who intervened in the case in which the leaders of the Brotherhood Islam were unjustly tried, was enormous. Our insistence on the need to turn to humanitarian diplomacy as well as humanitarian aid is the result of these and similar effects.
As a result; The martyrdom of Imam Abdullah Harun is clear. The oppressors who murdered him and the regime were not tried for causing death as a result of torture, and there is a disclosure in the records that he died by falling down the stairs. Muslims all over the world and humanity have a conscientious debt to Imam Abdullah Harun. This conscientious debt must be paid.