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Malawi Questions Ex-President On Scholar’s Murder
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A Library photo of Muluzi
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BLANTYRE
, November 18 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Police in the
southern African state of
Malawi
will question former president Bakili Muluzi and education minister
Yusuf Mwawa over the murder of a Muslim scholar two years ago.
"We
want to interrogate Muluzi and a minister to get their information and
some clarification which would help us," Agence France Presse
(AFP) quoted quoting Ishmael Wadi, director of public prosecutions.
Sheikh
Abdul Hamid Bugudad el-Bannah who headed the Muslims' Supreme Council
of Malawi, a breakaway faction of the mainstream Muslim Association of
Malawi (MAM), was detained by police with 600 of his followers in
2002.
The
detention came after he had led street protests and accused the then
president, in a published scathing open letter, of turning a
blind eye to rampant corruption.
The
Muslim scholar was assaulted a month later in his home town of
Liwonde
, 120km from
Blantyre
, and later died in hospital of injuries.
“Potential
Witnesses”
The
ex-president who stepped down in May after serving two five-year terms
and education minister would be quizzed as "potential
witnesses" to the murder and not as accused persons, Wadi said.
Two
daughters of the slain scholar, currently in
Zambia
for security reasons, would be also questioned by the Malawian
authorities, he noted.
The
investigation comes after two senior politicians, a top aide to Muluzi
and an ex-lawmaker, were charged in October with the murder.
Eight
Young Democrats, youth wing of Muluzi's United Democratic Front, were
also arrested early this month in connection with the murder.
The
Young Democrats are notorious for beating up government critics during
his 10-year rule.
No
official figures are available on the number of Muslims in
Malawi
.
According
to the CIA Facts Book, Christians make up some 75 percent of the
country’s nearly 12 million population while Muslims are estimated
at Muslim 20 per cent.
However,
the MAM says that there are some 4.8 million Muslims in the African
country.
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