Imtiaz Sooliman – on SA photo journalist kidnapped in Syria
AI: Summary ©
A woman named considerate from theills of Syria was spotted by armed men in Syria, but she was not captured by the government. The protest is aimed at creating awareness and bringing pictures of her to the country. The group discusses the upcoming protests in Syria, which aim to prove the Turkish Government is not harming their feelings and causing harm, and the possibility of finding someone named considerate of the protests. The hospital director's behavior is also discussed, but the representative is hesitant to give out their information. The donating effort is also discussed, and the representative is working with the media to ensure no one interferes with the hospital.
AI: Summary ©
Alright. Today marks a week since the South African photojourz
Mohammed was kidnapped by a group of armed men in Syria. The
photojournalist accompanied the gift of the givers a South African
humanitarian aid group to document the suffering that has taken place
in Syria. Shiraz was on this on his way to the Turkish border
along with two of his colleagues, when they were approached by armed
men in two vehicles, the men who took the photojournalists said
they wanted to question him and clear up a misunderstanding. They
told Shiraz colleagues that he would return with him two days,
but have been missing ever since the gift of the givers were set
was said to have met with the Syrian Government yesterday, but
just to get a clarity on this matter as to how far the issue has
gone, we joined from our studios in Durban by Doctor India Suleman,
who is the founder and the director of the gift of the
givers. Doctor Suleman, it's a very good morning to you, and
thank you so much for coming through. Morning, Melissa. Thank
you very much. Now what, what's the latest? What is happening is
it still not clear as to why was Shiraz captured?
Everybody inside Syria is confused because they said there's a
misunderstanding. That's why they take him in, and they said they
will return him, as you said in the beginning, to the to the gift
of the grid's hospital within two days today, this evening, will be
seven days. We haven't heard from Shiraz, nor have we heard from
them, nor has any group inside Syria taken responsibility. When
my drivers question those two, those people who captured Shiraz,
they didn't ask for a ransom. They didn't say they're going to want
money. They just said it's a misunderstanding. So for right
now, we have nobody to talk to, because we don't know who has him,
and the alternative now is to try to find him. And as you said in
the beginning, it wasn't the Syrian government. We met the
Turkish government. They on the border of Syria where the Shiraz
was supposed to come out. The governor has a good relationship
with gift of the givers, because we use that border for four years
now, and because the Turkish Government has troops inside
Syria, we're hoping, with the influence, they may be able to
give us some advice or some leads, if anybody has seen Shiraz, yeah,
and it looks like everyone in Syria is worried. Dr Suleman, I
mean, there were protests in the streets of Syria, Syrian people
demanding that Shiraz be released on Sunday.
Yes. The aim of the protest, you know, was to was multiple. One is
to record their disgust against what has happened. They said this
is not in keeping with the Syrian people, because the Syrian people
are very grateful to South Africa and South Africans for bringing so
much of aid into Syria and benefiting millions of lives
inside the country. So this is not representative of them. They made
a call that whoever is holding Shiraz should release him
unconditionally and unharmed. And thirdly, the most important reason
is to create an awareness inside Syria. So physically, we have more
eyes, Sunny eyes, looking for Shiraz because we don't know who
is holding him, and everybody has asked for a picture. It's on
placas. It's on social media and across different parts of the
country that strikes and protests are expected to spread to many
other cities today and in the days to come, and more people want
pictures of Shiraz so they can search for him in the country. Ja,
we all hopeful that Shiraz will be fun, but I think the question here
is, how soon could that be? I mean, you've also mentioned the
fact that no group has come forward to claim responsibility of
the kidnapping, but there were also reports that al Qaeda group
offered to help look for Shiraz, but for their own interest.
Yes, you know they called in the hospital director or doctor, but
gandur, and when they call you, you can't say no. I mean, you know
the consequences of that if you if you reject that. And so you had to
go. He met armed people in what face masks he was take blindfolded
and said he was being taken to the India, the investigation and
prison center, wherever that is. They drove around, and he was
taken to that place. He was one hour blindfolded, and then they
spoke to him. They wanted to know who Shiraz was. What was he doing
here? I know they heard there was some misunderstanding. But who was
misunderstanding? Did he have a problem with the people in the
hospital? Did he have a problem with Ahmed directly so Amit said,
No, there was no misunderstanding. We don't know what it's referring
to. Ahmed said, I kept him in my house. He had meals with me. I
offered him to stay the night with me. I took him to all the camps to
take his pictures. He wanted to go to Aleppo, but gift of the gift
stopped that they didn't allow him to go to Aleppo because of
security risks. And then Ahmed, I told Ahmed to give a message to
all Australia. Doesn't matter what the group is to say that South
Africans are very upset. We have been servicing them for four
years. We've saved lives. Shiraz came there to document their
difficulty and their suffering. So this is an insult to us. We have
one thing found. So all they said is that we are we have an interest
in this case, and we will look for Shiraz. What that means? We don't
know if they look for him to give him to us, or they have their own
intention that we don't know. Yeah, because I wanted to ask,
does that rule out the possibility of them being involved in the
kidnapping? I mean, the fact that they come forward to assist Well,
you know, that crosses your mind. Is it a smokescreen? You know
what? But we've been there for four years, and you know, the we
had several groups go through there, and I don't think they
would do that. You know, in fact, no group would do that otherwise.
I tell you why. When we are.
One of the hospital in 2013
the Free Syrian Army was in control of the city. They
eventually left, and ISIS came as a subsistence from the city. They
moved off, and then somebody else came, and they moved off, and
anusva came, and every group who came, we said, we know we don't
want any interference in the hospital. This is a very neutral
facility. We treat the families and the women and children of any
group, we don't ask any questions. So it's in everybody's interest
not to interfere in this hospital. And in four years, everybody has
respected that nobody's come to check for which group the patient
is in the hospital, or which family belongs to, or which tribe
belongs to. Nobody's interfered because everybody knows somewhere
along the line, some connection of this would be treated in this
hospital, and they all know it's not in the interest to harm the
hospital or people related to the hospital, because it will work
against it, and because I threatened to shut the hospital
down if anybody does that. Alright, just a quick one on this
one, how is the Department of International Relations helping in
this regard?
Well, we have a very good relationship. I mean, the media
knows we've been working together, you know, in the Somali pilot's
time, when Debbie and Bruno college were taken in the Koki
case and now with the McGowan case. Since we have a good
understanding, I've informed them, I mean, contact with them, end
state security, both. They will do what is their way normally, to
diplomatic means what the government's involved inside
Syria. They will use their mechanisms, and we will use our
mechanisms on the ground. We share information and we do things
together. So yes, they are fully supportive. They've taken all
Shiraz details and see what they can do. Alright? Dr Suleman,
that's where we're going to leave it for this morning, but we hope
for the best. Thank you so much for coming through. Dr India.
Suleiman, he's the founder of gift of the giver. So we're taking a
break. When we come back, we'll give you the seven o'clock news
bulletin here on the man.
Love you.