A man regarded as the first openly gay Muslim imam has been fatally shot while sitting in a car in South Africa in what many are calling an assassination because of his teachings.

Muhsin Hendricks, an openly gay imam, Islamic scholar and LGBT rights activist was shot and killed in Gqeberha, South Africa as he was leaving to officiate an interfaith marriage.

A man hailed as the world’s first imam to say he was gay was shot dead in South Africa on Saturday, local police said, in what rights groups fear could be a hate crime.