Slain activist Ahmed Timol’s inquest documents to be made public

26 October 2015 - 13:54 By RDM News Wire

The 44th anniversary of Ahmed Timol’s death in detention will be commemorated on Tuesday in the very building from where “he plunged 10 storeys and hit the ground”. The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation said on Monday that it “will see the inquest documents into his death officially being made available to the public”.“Timol‚ a teacher‚ South African Communist Party member and Umkhonto we Sizwe operative‚ died in detention at the then-notorious John Vorster Square (now Johannesburg Central) police station on October 27‚ 1971‚” the foundation said.“While police versions of his death indicate that he committed suicide by jumping from the 10th floor‚ evidence suggests that Timol was severely tortured by the Special Branch‚ and was likely to have been killed in detention.”The foundation said that the partial set of inquest documents kept by one the family’s legal representatives‚ attorney Mia Ahmed Loonat‚ were handed over it “and were digitised by the Wits Historical Papers Research Archive”.That process took a month.“These papers are of significant historical value. They not only capture the police’s account of Timol’s death‚ but statements from his parents‚ letters‚ and even copies of the ‘illegal’ pamphlets found in his car‚ at a roadblock just before his arrest‚” said foundation director Neeshan Balton.“While the documents are ‘treasure trove’ of information for history enthusiasts‚ they also remind us of the invaluable role that activists like Timol‚ and others who were killed in detention‚ played in our liberation struggle.”Timol’s nephew Imtiaz Ahmed Cajee was only 5 when his uncle was detained‚ but he has already one book‚ Timol‚ A Quest for Justice‚ and started a second which‚ he says‚ will deal with the “elusive truth”.He is also working to have the inquest reopened...

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