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Muslim Views photojournalist Anwar Omar has laid an assault charge after an alleged attack by a supporter of Israel outside the Western Cape High Court while covering a Palestine-related court case.
By YASEEN BARDIEN
MUSLIM VIEWS photojournalist Anwar Omar was allegedly assaulted outside the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday morning, June 17, while covering the Cape Union Mart interdict application against the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).
The application relates to protests outside the retailer’s stores and alleged defamatory statements.
Cape Union Mart and pro-Palestinian supporters stood on opposite sides of the street outside the court as tensions intensified.
Omar said that while taking photographs and video footage, he was accused by an individual on the Cape Union Mart side of not being a journalist.
‘A policeman asked me to present my credentials, which I did,’ Omar recounted. ‘The officer then told me to continue with my job of taking pictures and videos in his presence.’
The situation escalated when the same man, identified as Bafana Modise, spokesperson for South African Friends of Israel, allegedly struck him in the face. Omar sustained a cut above his right eye as a result of the incident.
‘I was hit in my face with his fist, causing the injury above my right eye,’ he said.
The alleged assault was captured on Omar’s camera, and he has opened a case of assault against Modise at Cape Town Central Police Station.
Footage captured by Muslim Views journalist Anwar Omar just before and after his alleged assault
The incident has renewed concerns about the safety of journalists, especially at protests.
Reggy Moalusi, executive director of the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF), condemned the attack.
‘That is unacceptable,’ said Moalusi. ‘We condemn the attack in the strongest possible form.’
Moalusi said incidents outside court were unfortunate and that attacks on journalists carrying out their duties make the situation more concerning.
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The Cape Town Ulama Board (CTUB) described the attack as ‘an overt, heavy-handed attempt to suppress press freedom and hide the realities of the public square’.
Expressing ‘deep alarm and strongest condemnation’, the CTUB said in a statement that ‘this alleged physical assault was not an isolated scuffle. It mirrors the exact silencing tactics being attempted inside the courtroom.’
The CTUB further called on law enforcement authorities to investigate the matter with urgency and said persons implicated should be held ‘legally accountable for the safety of media personnel and peaceful demonstrators’.
The editor of Muslim Views, Farid Sayed, condemned the attack on its journalist, describing it as ‘a blatant act of intimidation’.
‘Photojournalist Anwar Omar has been on the ground documenting almost every protest since October 2023 against the Israeli genocide in Gaza and its occupation of Palestine. This attack will not cow him – nor this publication – into silence.
‘Journalists in this country have protection from the Constitution to go about their jobs without intimidation or harassment. Those who are uncomfortable with the truth and the exposure of the crimes of the Zionist regime will not be able to take away this right.’
Sayed, speaking from his personal experience, added that these tactics of threatening critics of the Zionist state were not a new development.
‘Both at Muslim Views and our predecessor, Muslim News, we have received threatening calls to intimidate us.
‘During the apartheid era, supporters of Israel used the state’s censorship machinery, the Publications Control Board, to try to gag us.
‘I remember appearing, as a junior reporter, in the Athlone Magistrate’s Court along with directors of Muslim News, to face charges for publishing “undesirable material”. The state was acting on a complaint by the South African Zionist Federation.’
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