A group of Ishtiyaq Shukri’s friends and colleagues have drafted a letter to the South African UK High Commission, expressing concern at his recent treatment.
On his way to visit his wife at their home in London recently, Shukri was detained for over nine hours at Heathrow Airport and then deported. He released a statement of protest on Friday.
Shukri is the author of the 2004 European Union Literary Award-winning novel The Silent Minaret and I See You. He is an alumnus of Wits University, having graduated from the institution with an MA in English Literature in 2000.
“Since taking up permanent British residence, I have never sought recourse to public funds,” Shukri told the Sunday Times. “I have always participated fully in the public and democratic systems of the country. I have always voted and I have always engaged in frequent debate and correspondence with my local MPs in the North London Borough of Hornsey where we own a home. I wrote my first novel – The Silent Minaret – in London. Large parts of the novel are set in London.
“I am stunned at how all of that has come to stand for nothing, and how 20 years of life as a Londoner was negated in just nine hours. Why do frontline officials at UK immigration have such power to end a life so swiftly?”
Isabel Hofmeyr, Professor of African Literature at Wits, says: “We are inviting those interested in South African literature and questions of social justice to add their names to the letter. Please do pass the letter on to other interested academics.”
The text of the letter:
As scholars and friends of the South African author Ishtiyaq Shukri, we are deeply concerned by his recent, and so far unexplained, deportation from the United Kingdom. We look forward to a reversal of this decision by the British immigration authorities and also to an apology to a man of deep integrity who is, in his work and life, committed to peace and to the promotion of cultural understanding between people and faiths.
If you would like to sign the letter, please sign your name and title either in the comments on this post on Facebook, in the comments section below, or via email. Books LIVE will collect the names and submit them.
Book details
- The Silent Minaret by Ishtiyaq Shukri
EAN: 9781770092495
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- I See You by Ishtiyaq Shukri
EAN: 9781431408757
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Image courtesy of Africa is a Country