Fighting hampers search for SA photojournalist

THE search for Shiraaz Mohamed, the South African photojournalist who was kidnapped in Syria earlier this month, has been frustrated by fighting between different groups in the war-torn country.

Mohamed, who accompanied Gift of the Givers, was kidnapped near the Turkish border while documenting the country’s humanitarian crisis three weeks ago.

Following Mohamed’’s capture, Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman said he was taken following a “misunderstanding”.

A former al-Qaeda affiliate has since said it would help look for him. Yesterday, Sooliman said it had been a tough week in the search fpr Mohamed.

“It has been tough in trying to trace Shiraaz in Syria, not because of a lack of cooperation, but because of fighting between different groups resulting in road closures [and] multiple checkpoints.

“This has made accessing decision makers difficult as most have switched off their mobiles [phones] for security reasons.”

He said up until Saturday they were still getting the message that Mohamed was alive. Sooliman said the people who had pledged to help find him had asked for a few days grace to make further queries once the fighting stops.

Sooliman said all the “connected” people had come to the same conclusion – that Mohamed had been taken by mistake, but they were now afraid to release him without being identified.

“We have responded to this by preparing a special poster on Shiraaz.”

Sooliman said the posters in Arabic said: “Dear people of Syria. This is Shiraaz Mohamed during his minor pilgrimage [Umra]. He has been taken by some people. We are very sure it’s a case of mistaken identity as Shiraaz came as a photographer to help the people of Syria.

“We request that whoever has taken him please release him somewhere safe. There will be no questions asked and we as South Africans will be very grateful.”