(18 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cape Town, South Africa – 17 February 2025
1. Wide of the Open Mosque founded by Imam Muhsin Hendriks
2. Wide signage at the Open Mosque
3. Close up of "I AM" sign on door
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Reverend Ecclesia de Lange, director, Inclusive and Affirming Ministries: ++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON SHOT1 AND IS OVERLAID BY SHOT 2-3 AND 5++
"Muhsin (Hendriks) stood with marginalised Islamic queer young people. You know, giving them shelter, training them, educating them, giving them hope, for a new beginning and to live life as authentic as possible. And I would want to believe that the work he has done over nearly three decades – the seed that has been sown – that life will come from that."
5. Leaflets from church
6. Various pedestrians crossing at rainbow pride pedestrian crossing
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Khaled Sayed, African National Congress member of the Western Cape Provincial Legislature: ++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON SHOT5-6 AND IS PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOT 9++
"It cannot be that in a constitutional democracy like ours, people are killed because they hold a different religious view. This man represented a community, and he provided a home for vulnerable people who are on the margins in the Muslim community.”
8. Rainbow Pride flag, Table Mountain in background
STORYLINE:
A man regarded as the first openly gay Muslim imam has been fatally shot while sitting in a car in South Africa in what many are calling an assassination because of his teachings.
Muhsin Hendricks was ambushed by two men in a pick-up truck while visiting the southern city of Gqeberha on Saturday.
Police said the men involved in the killing had their faces covered.
A security video of the shooting shows one of them jumping out of their vehicle, running up to the car Hendricks was in and firing a pistol multiple times through a side window.
Police said Hendricks was with a driver, who survived.
Police have not established a motive for the killing, but political parties and LGBTQ+ organisations say Hendricks was targeted because he started a mosque in Cape Town for gay Muslims and called for members of the LGBTQ+ community to be welcomed into Islam.
Homosexuality is forbidden in the Islamic religion.
"From my perspective, this is definitely a religious instigated hate crime. Because he preached and stood for an unpopular Islamic message, and he called for a new way of interpreting the Quran, that is inclusive and compassionate," said Reverend Ecclesia de Lange, director of Inclusive and Affirming Ministries (IAM), South Africa.
South Africa’s Justice Ministry said it was investigating claims that Hendricks was the target of an assassination.
Hendricks was known internationally and spoke at the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association’s (ILGA) conference in South Africa last year.
The ILGA said Hendricks had spoken of how some people were calling for the closing of his mosque and had branded it the “gay temple.”
The Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s second biggest political party, said “the nature of the killing strongly suggests a professional hit.”
"This was a cold blooded murder, which needs to be condemned unequivocally, without putting any conditions to the condemnation," said Khaled Sayed, African National Congress member of the Western Cape Provincial Legislature.
Hendricks said in an interview with a South African newspaper in 2022 that he felt he was the target of a series of fatwas – rulings in Islamic law – issued by South Africa’s Muslim Judicial Council that year.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/39d512085ff64d59aaa792e1c165cd67
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in February 23, 2025, 3:04 am.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
