The wife of kidnapped Iranian cleric, Mohammad Hassan Ebrahimi, has issued an appeal for her husband's safe return on her behalf and in the name of their unborn child.
"Me, a lonely nine months old pregnant foreign woman in Guyana, who has to be admitted in hospital at any moment for delivery, request everyone for a helping hand to get my husband back," Shahnaz Ansari pleaded in an email to Stabroek News yesterday.
"I pray to the al mighty God to give a chance to my unborn, innocent child to be able to see his father," Shahnaz concluded her appeal.
And the Muslim community has condemned Ebrahimi's kidnapping and the police raid on the ISA Islamic School.
A press release that included the names of nine local Islamic organisations stated: "The abduction of Shaykh Ebrahimi is shocking and saddening and with the further passage of time the Muslim community becomes more frustrated and increasingly pained."
The release also referred to the trauma wrought by Ebrahimi's kidnapping on his wife and unborn child and offered sympathy and support for the students and parents of the students of the ISA Islamic School.
It further rejected any suggestions of existing conflict between Muslims in Guyana who follow varying schools of thought in the religion.
"The following organisations with the rest of the Muslim community and our nation's moral majority join in condemning these ghastly acts of abduction and the disgraceful violation of the ISA Islamic School. We demand an immediate reiteration of appropriate procedure and anticipate the best of co-operation."
The Muslim organisations represented in the release are the Muslim Youth League, Guyana United Sadr Islamic Anjuman, Imam Baqir Islamic Centre, Guyana Islamic Information Centre, Guyana Islamic Institute, HujjatulUlama, Diamond DarulUloom, Guyana Islamic Trust and the Muslim Youth Organisation of Guyana.
Ebrahimi was abducted late on April 2 by two gunmen just outside the International Islamic College for Advanced Studies (IICAS) where he is the Director. The IICAS administrator, Raymond Halley, was shot and injured when he attempted to flee Ebrahimi's abductors but has been unable, according to sources, to provide any substantial information. The police and a recently trained anti-kidnapping squad have since been working to find Ebrahimi.
There has been no demand for ransom or any other form of contact from the abductors. Officials of the Iranian government have since been in contact with Shahnaz and the Guyana government to express their concern.