“We are all Bassiouni” were the chants reverberating through Sandton in Johannesburg on Friday afternoon, as community members and civil society activists called for the release of Egyptian South African alim Shaykh Abdus Salaam Bassiouni. Sandton in Johannesburg came alive with the #FreeBassiouni protest held outside the African Union Summit, where Africa’s leaders are meeting this weekend. Campaigners shouted slogans calling for the scholar to be released from the Cairo prison, where he has been detained since last year. The protest started after midday and police cordoned off the Sandton Convention Centre where the AU Summit is taking place. Scores of demonstrators broke away to perform Jumuah on the street.

The event was led by Bassiouni family, Egyptian ex-pats as well as members of the solidarity movement such as the Media Review Network and Palestine Solidarity Committee.

“The crowd was representative of the people touched by Shaykh Bassiouni, many of them from indigenous and underprivileged communities who were given the gift of Islam by the Shaykh, through his dawah work. We also saw people from his colleges like the Bilal Training College that gave people a head start in life and an opportunity to start fully paid jobs,” said Channel Islam International journalist Ebrahim Moosa.

The protest became tense when agent provocateurs from the Egyptian Embassy tried to infiltrate the crowd and create chaos. This was quickly contained by the police and security.

“Sheikh Bassiouni is in a closed prison of Egyptian regime, just like the people of Gaza are in an open air prison of the Egyptian regime,” said activist Nazeem Adam.

The family of Bassiouni made an emotional plea on authorities to release him. Protestors witnessed a heart breaking message from the children and grandchildren calling for justice for their father, and urging the AU to stand up to its ideals and for the South African government “to stop washing its hands” of its responsibility in the quest to release Shaykh Bassiouni.

Bilal Bassiouni, the son of Sheikh Bassiouni told the crowd: “Six months imprisoned without charge, is six months too long. We demand more from DIRCO to release SA citizen Sheikh Bassiouni. No reprentative from African Union is present to accept our memorandum. We are here to call on the African Union to help Free Bassiouni. We are here to call for justice for Sheikh Bassiouni!”

Al-Zahra Bassiouni, daugher of Sheikh Bassiouni shared her feelings, saying that a special moment in her life will always be tainted by the incarceration of my father. Sheikh Bassiouni was imprisoned while attending her engagement in Egypt.

“My mother is in Egypt, and visits my father once a week in prison. Thanks everyone for supporting my father in this difficult time,” she said.

Sheikh Bassiouni, who lives in and currently holds a South African passport, was arrested upon his arrival at the Cairo International Airport, with authorities yet to reveal the nature of his detention. The frail scholar is being incarcerated at the notorious Tora Prison, where is being denied decent food and vital medication that can improve his diabetes.

“Ultimately, he went out to make life easier for people. It’s unfortunate that those very rights and principles of human rights and dignity is not being afforded to a man who championed it for the cause of others,” reported Moosa.  VOC