In Tirana, Hafiz Sabri Koçi, senior cleric, president of the Muslim Community of Albania (1991-2004), passed away. He was born in Orenje, Librazhd, in 1921. He received his first religious lessons in Shkodër, near Hafiz Muhamed Bektesh, Hafiz Sabri Beg Buhat and Sheh Qazim Hoxha. After 1939, he was appointed imam in the mosque of Luguçesma, in Shkodër, then in the White Mosque and, later, in the “Dudas” neighborhood. In 1952, he was appointed imam in the mosque of Little Russia and, a little later, in the Old Mosque. Four years later, on May 23rd, 1956, he was appointed the Mufti of Kavaja. Before long, with the request of the believers of the neighborhood “Rus i Vogël”, he was again appointed imam in Shkodër. He was arrested on June 4th, 1966 and September 10thof the same year, by decision no. 34, the District Court of Shkodra declared him guilty “for treason against the motherland remaining in the preparation phase” and for “agitation and propaganda against popular power” and sentenced him to 22 years of imprisonment, confiscation of property and loss of electoral rights for 5 years. He was released on October 22nd, 1986. On November 16th, 1990, he was among the initiators of the opening of the Lead Mosque, where he decided to establish the Albanian Islamic Community based in Shkodër, which was approved on January 23rd, 1991. On February 14th of the same year , was elected chairman of the Albanian Muslim Community Council. (In the photo: Hafiz Sabri Koçi)
Text: Encyclopedic dictionary of victims of communist terror – Vol. IV , “West Print”, Institute for the Study of Crimes and Consequences of Communism, Tirana, 2015, page 232.
Photo: © https://www.zaninalte.al/2020/12/haxhi-hafiz-sabri-koci-1921-2004/
Graphic processing: AHCF
