Imtiaz Sooliman – Remembering imprisoned or persecuted journalists

Imtiaz Sooliman
AI: Summary ©
The struggles of journalists in South Africa during recent flooding and extreme attacks continue to be discussed. The United States and Russia are preparing for potential talks and negotiations, but the risks of injuries and injuries caused by media actions remain. The segment ends with a brief advertisement for the United States to join a war zone and provide information on the risks of injuries. A reporter describes a situation where a staff member got out by two cars and put guns on him, and then put him in another car, but the other staff didn't know what they were referring to and didn't know what they were referring to. The segment concludes with a brief advertisement for the United States to join a war zone and provide information on the risks of injuries.
AI: Transcript ©
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Indeed. Chris Ali, so that was beautiful. We have to get a little

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bit more serious now, and journalists themselves often need

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faith. On World Press Freedom Day, we've been remembering journalists

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imprisoned, killed, persecuted for doing their jobs. Shiraz Mohammed,

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a South African photojournalist, was abducted in 2017 when he

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accompanied aid organization, gift of the givers on a trip to Syria

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to discuss the latest we're joined by MTS, Suleiman, the founder of

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the gift of the givers. He's on the line for us. He's in KwaZulu

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Natal so we also talk about a gift of the givers involvement after

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the flooding there. MTS, thank you for being with us. I know that you

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were updating South Africa a few days ago, just remind us what

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information we have about Shiraz, about his whereabouts, about his

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safety.

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Good evening, Francis, yes, we were following Shiraz days for two

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years and three months, and we had many leads from many people. And

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finally, we had a breakthrough, a great breakthrough, on April 12,

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unfortunately, we were not following somebody we didn't know.

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Send us a message in Arabic. I know about Shiraz. I know where he

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is. I know he's alive, but you have to talk to somebody else, so

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I get something in Arabic to speak to him. He gives us a message. He

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says, The information I give you, you can't relate any of the

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information my life was in danger, but from the information you can

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make out with kiras, definitely alive. And then he says, He gives

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us a couple of leads. He speaks to few people, and finally we get one

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person, and he says, Yes, I can help you with Kiran. So we tell

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him like you, everybody has told us the same thing over the last

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two places, but they can help us, to tell us what all of them are

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chances. So he says, No, I definitely can help you. So we

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say, Can you give us a proof of live video? It says it will cost

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you. Now recently, the rebel groups have decided they will not

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be making any more proof of live videos, and if you insist on a

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proof of live video, it will cost you a lot of money. And a few

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months ago, we were told that if you want the video to some other

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person, it will cost 300,000 US dollars. So we told them, keep the

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video. We don't want it. So in this world, said it will cost you.

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We said, Look, we're not interested. Fine, don't give us a

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video. Then a few days later, it was Friday, the 26th of April,

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10pm the video comes through, but she does in the video, and when

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she does start speaking, he asks me, personally, he has the state

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president, he has family and friends and anybody in the

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international community to help him. He said, please come help

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him. He is very afraid of his life where he is. There's intense

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bombing. The Russians are bombing very close by, and is very afraid

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for its own condition. Please, please come and help him. And he

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got a board. It says, 13th of April. So this video is done on

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the 30th of April, now falling from that story. What today? What

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negotiations are taking place, what discussions are taking place,

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what are the prospects of release?

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Well, that's the next step. You know, that's the part that's very

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worrying, because we now have to wait for them to get back to us,

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and we're hoping they will. They did call us today, and I can't

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give the divers a details yet, because I need to speak to the

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family first, what we were told, and what my what my hospital is

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telling me inside study is that what sharaz was saying in the

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video is very, very true, that a bombing has intensified. It's

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getting closer and it's getting more severe. Now, that's the part

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and what the other things they told us, I can't release it today.

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I need to talk to the family first, and I will be seeing them

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tomorrow and Joanna, but thereafter, I will release what

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they have told us is this very hard for you personally, MTS,

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because we understand he was with gift of the givers going to Syria

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and journalists in this country know you often take journalists on

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these trips. It's an incredible way to access certain areas that

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sometimes we can't access at all,

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no, well, actually, he wasn't traveling with us at that point.

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He went alone one of our volunteers. He had spoken to one

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of our volunteers who lives in Turkey, and because he must have

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trouble with us and to others, I don't even know sure as I've never

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met him, so he had made arrangements for one of our

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volunteers who lived in Turkey and who had good access to the

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hospital. And I said, Okay, strangely enough, the time that we

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went in was relatively the safest time possible. There was no

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bombing, there was no fighting area, there was no shooting. It

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was safe. So he said, This is the best time to come. You can take

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pictures in hospital. The patients come from everywhere, from all

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over the country. You can see them. You can go to the refugee

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camps. And he did all that. He took a lot of footage, no issue

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about bombing or shooting or getting killed. Nobody in the

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world expected that somebody would abduct him. Nobody that has never

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happened in the danger before. So like, I want his way back home to

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the turkey border. That's what he got by two cars. Eight people got

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out, put guns on him, put him in another car. They.

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The other staff away from the hospital to another place 35

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kilometers away. And then that staff got out and said, but they

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freed them. He said, You can go. So he said, What about him? They

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said, No, we just want to speak to him because we had there was some

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misunderstanding. There was no misunderstanding. We don't know

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what they were referring to. And then they said, but don't worry,

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in 48 hours, we'll bring him back to your hospital. That was two

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years and three months

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ago. We are trying to assess press freedom. I mean, does this make

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you circumspect since then? Has it made you circumspect about taking

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journalists with you on trips? What do you think about the

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general acceptance of media being alongside you on these sort of aid

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operations. It's a journalist, bureaucrat. We go. In fact, we

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never asked him. The journalists always ask us. The strange thing

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is, the moment we announce and we should be trusted before that,

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quite often, the journalists will call us different. Have you heard

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this has happened near Jane everywhere, and you're going, we

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like to join you. And you would find the leadership that comes

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from the journals themselves. And then you would find 10 from 10

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from the same media group. And then you would call the editor and

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say, Look, I can't take care of your staff. You've got to choose

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each other's coming. And in that way, the journals would come

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about. And I would always brief them, as well as briefing my team,

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especially going to a war zone. And I would say, look, I would

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bring the most frightening picture. It's preferable that you

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don't come. You can get killed, you can get maimed, anything can

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happen to you. You can get terribly injured. Your family and

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behind will never fall. And they would all say, without exception,

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be journalists, be the medical guys. We coming. We are adults. We

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know the risks. We know why we coming. We're coming to help

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people, and the journalists will say we're coming to take the

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story. So if this is the old initiative, this is the

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profession. There are doctor you can get diseased in the hospital.

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You go in a war zone, you can get bombed. There are military cars.

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You can get shot. The policeman, you can get killed. So it's a

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risk, and you're fine when you can get burnt. It comes with a job.

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When you do the job, it's contradiction that something can

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happen to me if I go into a dangerous place. So they all come

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with their own I can't stop them as they want to come you know,

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because it's part of the profession, it's part of the

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growth. So I won't stop taking journals as long as they want to

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come out. That's good to hear. So a lot of brave journalists out

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there, and it's the same in your work, so relief workers as well,

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heading into danger zones. Let's end off just with a quick summary,

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because you are in KwaZulu Natal, that's why you're not in studio.

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Tell us about your project there to build 80 homes, and try and

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describe for people who aren't there, the aftermath of the

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floodings.

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The flooding was really huge.

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Sorry. It destroyed bridges and many homes land from the fields.

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In one area, the 80 homes that we talking about was in a place

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called bottle brush, 80 homes got washed away in another place

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called rabadach, the water came in at midnight, and the whole family

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got washed away in restaurants, in the school, a house where seven of

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the caretakers family was saying, All seven got killed because the

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walls fell on them. But everywhere you went, you saw the severity of

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the destruction. What was very, very unusual never before in the

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history of South Africa as a storm killed 70 people. Secondly, never

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the storm had such an extensive reach. No, it started from Central

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Durban, raining here. Pine Town is a Pingle child, cross Chatsworth,

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prospect,

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prospecto Margate, a beach, Port shepston, and running into Port St

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Johns, and that has never happened before. The other thing is, whilst

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you're helping people, assisting them, over the first few days, we

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thought we had reached everybody, but now we are finding that, you

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know, we started those, amount of people that have been affected has

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just been increasing in number. And we go to all the areas to

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verify that the recipients are the people in need. When we get the

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calls, I mean purchases alone, there's more than 2000 is

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affected. In aminto, more than 600 some is affected. In Delavan,

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we're finding more and more areas every day. People said, but nobody

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came to us, so we said that we didn't know you offended, and

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you're finding more and more the destruction and extent is really,

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really huge, sure. So this is absolute devastation. Thank you so

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much for that update and for your efforts trying to free a South

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African journalist still being held captive in Syria. That was

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the founder of gift of the givers, Dr Imtiaz Suleiman.

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