In must be quite horrifying to find your son’s picture online along with a caption suggesting he is dead. This is what happened to Joyce Snyman, when her tech-savvy grandson alerted her to a couple of posts on Twitter, both accompanied by an image of a man holding up her son’s driver’s license:
Holding back tears, the 70-year-old Durban mother wanted to know whether her son, a suspected local Islamic State fighter, was dead, murdered or had disappeared. Allegdly, according to the posts, her 44-year-old son, Aqeel-Haq Kloberie was killed a few days ago in Iraq in a blast.
This first post, by @IraqLiveUpdate, had the image along with the following text:
Dead Daesh terrorist held South African driver’s licence! #SouthAfrica joins the club..#Iraq.
Another post, by @TerrorMonitor wrote:
A #PMU Fighter Displays A Seized #SouthAfrican Driver Licence Recovered From A Killed #ISIS Militant.
The mother had been waiting for contact from her son since she last spoke to him in June.
He was only supposed to go for three weeks on a contract job. He’s been around the world to Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Russia. He works in the oil refineries underground, and had recently finished working at Eskom at the Medupi plant.
The last I heard from him was in June this year. We talked about normal things, about his family and his young children, and he sounded fine. We speak often, and usually if he doesn’t call me after a week or so, I call him. But I’ve tried his number since June and I can’t get hold of him.
There was mention some time ago that he was mugged, so his licence could have landed somewhere else. How did he get from Bahrain to Iraq. I am so confused, I just want to find out if my child is alive.
A devout Muslim who converted in 1991, Kloberie had renounced all Western activities and even burnt a prized collection of rap music when he converted.
If my son was involved in any of these activities, then I don’t believe he was doing it willingly. I think he was being forced to do it. But I just want to speak to my child, that’s all. I’m old. I don’t need this stress now.
A spokesman for the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, was aware of the image:
We are waiting for the Department of Home Affairs to verify that the name on the card matches the ID number and once that is verified, we will proceed to liaise with the family.
If the body is that of the man, then we will begin processes to bring the body back home.
Read more on South Africa’s relationship with the Middle East and IS on iol.
[source: iol]
