(FXI/IFEX) – Layla Cassim, a grade ten pupil at Crawford College, a South African school, was suspended from the college on 20 November 1998 following a request to the headmaster by the Jewish Defence League to investigate claims that Cassim had placed an article she wrote on the school’s notice board, reflecting the Palestinian Liberation […]
(FXI/IFEX) – Layla Cassim, a grade ten pupil at Crawford College, a South
African school, was suspended from the college on 20 November 1998 following
a request to the headmaster by the Jewish Defence League to investigate
claims that Cassim had placed an article she wrote on the school’s notice
board, reflecting the Palestinian Liberation Organisation’s political
philosophy.
A week ago, a Jewish extremist group threatened to take action against
Cassim’s Muslim family because of what she wrote in a history assignment.
According to the “Mail & Guardian”, the Jewish Defence League wrote a letter
to Cassim’s father demanding that his daughter retract the contents of her
article. The threat came after Cassim was asked by her teacher to respond to
a pro-Israeli article about the conflict in the Middle East between the
Israelis and the Palestinians. The two articles were pasted on the college’s
notice board. This angered some of her Jewish school mates and prompted the
extremist group to demand the immediate withdrawal of the article’s
contents. The group indicated in a letter that they were not interested in
freedom of speech. However, the South African Jewish Board of Deputies had
issued a statement in which it said it had thoroughly investigated the
incident at the college, and it was satisfied that there was no evidence of
anti-Semitism. The college is now claiming that Cassim’s suspension is not
only related to the issue of the essay and reaction to it but ongoing
behavioural problems.
In a statement, the Media Review Network said the suspension denies Cassim
the right to access equity and redress. FXI believes that Cassim should have
the right to express her views without fear of harassment by either the
College, its pupils or the JDL. FXI also
believes that the South African Human Rights Commission should take the
matter up urgently.
