Islamic school to reopen despite death of 'shepherd'
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Administrators plan to reopen the International Islamic College for Advanced Studies, despite being haunted by the brutal murder of its director Mohammad Hassan Ebrahimi, a man remembered as a shepherd helping lost sheep. "We are going to start classes by the August holidays... once we get the system organised," interim director Sheikh Salim Ibn Abdul Kadir says. He is responsible for the institution until the Iranian organisation which runs the college sends a new director. Kadir, who is now moving back and forth between the college and his own Linden-based Islamic Information Centre, says that notices for enrolment should be published shortly. Ebrahimi is fondly remembered by close associates who worked with him at the school, where he managed to forge a close bond with the students. "I was like a sheep without a shepherd," says Brother Haroon, who was in Berbice recruiting more students from the school when news came of the director's abduction. He says being a member of a minority Shia community, he was hard-pressed to find a place where he could freely associate until the sheik brought him to the college. Haroon, says the sheik was interested in helping young people and it was for this reason that he was dispatched to Berbice, where he was to recruit 40 students. He says they were looking for young people who were unemployed, who would be given skills training, housing and clothing. Ebrahimi was particular about standards and was searching for a building to house the students around the time of his abduction. "That man was something else... He was a father... a brother... he was a rare individual," Haroon says. Close associate, Brother Usamah says Ebrahimi was actively involved in teaching at the college, where a small group of students was learning about Islam, the Arabic language and computer science. Ebrahimi also had plans to introduce a sewing class at the college and had placed advertisements in the newspaper. The class was made up of about 15 students who began studying at the college at the start of the year. A considerable number of them were Amerindian, according to Usamah, who says the sheik was trying to give them opportunities they would not normally have. "The sheik's work was not limited to a particular people... At the time of his abduction each and everyone of them was on keyboards doing computer work." They were his first batch of students and many were overcome by emotion when they heard of his abduction. "The students came on the Monday after... everyone of them cried bitterly, including a teacher. They cried bitterly," says Usamah. Local police appear to be no closer to solving the case than they were two months ago, when the Iranian cleric was abducted in front of the college on April 2. He had returned to the college that night after an official of the institution telephoned him to say there was a leak in the building. But nothing was found and while he and the college's administrator Raymond Halley were about to drive away they were attacked by the gunmen who shot at them. They were ordered out of the vehicle and Halley was shot when he tried to run away. Ebrahimi was dragged from the vehicle and bundled into the waiting AE 192 Toyota Carina of the gunmen, who sped away. There was never any ransom demand, fuelling further suspicion about the abduction. Ebrahimi's partly decomposed body was found off the Linden-Soesdyke Highway one month later. He was shot twice in the head. Prior to the publication of this story Stabroek News sought answers to many unanswered questions about the investigation but there has been no response from the authorities. It is unclear how much time elapsed before the police responded and what was recovered at the scene of the abduction. The kidnappers were seen by witnesses, but police have not released descriptions to solicit public assistance. Police have also not said if any forensic evidence was retrieved from the site where the body was recovered. Police have been silent on possible motives for the kidnapping, though at one stage one of the angles they were exploring was a possible conflict between local Sunni and Shia Muslims. This is one of the reasons that reportedly led to the search of the ISA Islamic School, a development which drew outrage from the local Muslim community. The Guyana Islamic Trust (GIT), which administers the school, also dismissed insinuations that there was any conflict. Iranian investigators were dispatched to Guyana, though it is still not known whether they made any progress. |