Afghan man stuck in transit at OR Tambo Airport

Sunday Independent I Bianca Capazorio I

A man who says he is an Afghan national has been locked in a room at OR Tambo International Airport for 44 days, unable to see an attorney, or go home.

Lawyers for Human Rights, who are representing Mohamed Khalid, were on Friday granted immediate and ongoing access to their client after an urgent application in the South Gauteng High Court.

Khalid is being held in a restricted area termed "Inad" (short for inadmissible) by a private company contracted to the Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa).

Lawyers for Human Rights expressed their concern that Khalid was being held in a "secret facility that no one is allowed to access, begging the question of the legality of its existence".

Gina Snyman, head of the detention monitoring unit at Lawyers for Human Rights, said that they would consult with Khalid on Monday after the ruling yesterday afternoon by Judge Motsamai Makume.

According to an affidavit filed by Air France attorney Chris Watters, Khalid is alleged to have arrived in South Africa on July 19 on board a Jet Airways flight from Mumbai, India. He entered the country on a Turkish passport, bearing the name Haydar Guler.

He was issued a 30-day permit to be in South Africa, but boarded Air France flight 995 to Paris on July 22, using the same passport.

However, once in Paris, he announced that he had destroyed his passport and the French authorities sent him back to South Africa, where he has since been detained. Khalid was brought back to South Africa by the airline, so they are being held responsible for the cost of his detention.

Watters said in his affidavit that Khalid claimed to be an Afghan national and had produced a passport to this effect. "However, there is no certainty as to his real identity and citizenship" and there was "cause to be concerned about the legitimacy of the Afghan passport," he said.

An affidavit by Snyman indicates that Khalid is being held by a company called Analytical Risk Management International, apparently contracted by Acsa to handle security for them.

In her dealings with Home Affairs officials, she said she was told that because Khalid had not passed passport control, and was not officially in South Africa, they could not help her.

However, when requesting access to Khalid from Acsa, Snyman was told she needed permission from a government department first.

Snyman said she found it strange that she had been stopped from accessing the restricted area to see her Afghan client, when just days earlier, American singer Puff Johnson had been granted access to see her attorney when she was detained at the same airport.

The Minister of Home Affairs, the Home Affairs Deputy Director-General, Acsa, Analytical Risk Management and Air France were all named as respondents in the High Court application.

Snyman said Acsa had not been present at court proceedings yesterday, but said that Analytical Risk Management had filed a notice to abide by an order made by the court.

Snyman said yesterday she had tried on several occasions over a number of weeks to gain access to Khalid, but had been blocked at every turn. The only contact she had with him was through three telephone calls.

Home Affairs submitted in court that they should not have been named as respondents at all, as they were in no way involved with Khalid's detention. Home Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said yesterday that because the matter was sub judice, he could not comment, but he did indicate that because the facility at which Khalid was being held was private, the department did not have a role to play.

Snyman however, said that a Constitutional Court precedent had been set indicating that Home Affairs was responsible for all foreign nationals in South Africa.

Lawyers for Human Rights said their next move is to have Khalid released, either in South Africa or sent back to Afghanistan.

Acsa media spokesman Solomon Makgale did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.