The South African Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) reportedly sent a letter to the Egyptian embassy, refusing to host Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawky Allam in South Africa for his endorsement of several death sentences in Egypt, including the one issued against former president Mohamed Morsi.
Allam had planned to visit South Africa on 2 and 3 October along with a delegation. However, MJC, one of the oldest religious organisations in South Africa, excused itself from receiving him. TRT World published a copy from the letter sent to the Egyptian Embassy in which MJC said that its commitment to the partnership with Al-Azhar University will continue, but it did not approve of hosting Allam.
The letter read: “We fear that the South African Liberation movements in our country would strongly oppose and protest the visit of the Mufti and his delegation, and could potentially escalate into adverse conditions for them during their intended visit.”
MJC also added that Allam’s peace mission was tainted by his endorsement of death sentences given to Egyptians and required his approval before being issued.
In 2015, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi allegedly cancelled a visit to Johannesburg to attend an African Union summit after a group of lawyers from South Africa filed a request for his arrest.
At the time, a lawyer told Anadolu Agency that the request was filed as they believed Al-Sisi had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the violent dispersal of the Al-Rabaa Al-Adaweya sit in in July 2013.
