Social cohesion advocate Yusuf Abramjee says while police were well within their right to arrest Muslim worshippers who wanted to continue with congregational prayers in Masaajid during the lockdown, the officers conduct was unacceptable.

Abramjee has released a statement after social media accused him of condoning the actions of police to arrest worshippers for violating lockdown regulations.

#YusufAbramjeeMustFall was trending on Twitter for hours with social media users attacking his integrity and some calling him a racist.

Abramjee says he sided with the amicus curiae in the court proceedings by Mohammed and two others challenging the lockdown regulations in a bid get the Masaajid open.

“Even before the matter of opening the Mosques for limited use was argued in court last week, I was a founding signatory on the declaration that was issued by the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) and the United Ulema Council of South Africa (UUCSA) calling on Mosques to abide by the regulations and avoid congregational prayers.”

Abramjee has condemned the actions of the Muslim worshippers and the police

“Just as I condemn the actions of the Muslim worshippers, I so too also condemn the action of a single policeman who blatantly and in an unprovoked manner insulted the Holy Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) of the Islamic faith.”

He say while the blasphemy issue has been dealt with by police minister Bheki Cele and the South African Human Right Commisison, the root cause of the problem must be placed on the shoulders of those who defied the regulations and congregated at the venue to perform prayers as a group including those who openly advocated for it.

Abrmajee says many hurtful Islamophobic comments were also hurled to the Muslim community which has been reported to the SAHRC and CRL Rights Commission.

Faizel Patel 

(Twitter: @FaizelPatel143)