Cape Town - After years of lobbying and demands for justice related to the brutal murder of Muslim cleric and political activist, Imam Abdullah Haron, judgment in the reopened inquest will be handed down today, 54 years after he died in police detention.
In May last year, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola asked the Western Cape High Court judge president to designate a judge to reopen an inquest into Imam’s death.
The inquest hearings in November and March, were presided over by Judge Daniel Thulare and judgment will be handed down at the Western Cape High Court at 10am.
Evidence was given from November 7 to 16, and closing arguments on April 24 and 25. Webber Wentzel represents the family.
Imam Haron was detained by the Security Branch of the police in terms of the then Terrorism Act and died in police detention on September 27, 1969, at the Maitland Police Station.
The security police claimed Haron slipped on stairs and due to the unnatural cause of death, an inquest was held in 1970 but held no person accountable.
The imam’s face was free of wounds, however, he suffered 27 bruises to his body and two broken ribs, indicative of the gruelling torture he faced throughout the 123 days in detention incommunicado and solitary confinement.
The Imam Haron Foundation said: “Besides the fact that he was subjected to unrelenting brutality and torture during his detention of 123 days, the State’s 1970 Imam Haron inquest – and those of numerous others – were a travesty of justice.
“In fact, all the apartheid officials, including members of the medical and legal fraternity who took part in that case – except for the family’s lawyers, of course – were guilty of having covered up the real causes of his tragic death.
“They, together, produced contrived evidence that supported a discriminatory, racist system. Each of them guilty of having manufactured a set of untruths.
“The inquest of November 2022 demonstrates that their version was manufactured to mask the real cause of his injuries and death.”
In a statement, the Foundation for Human Rights and Webber Wentzel said by the time of the reopened inquest, two persons of interest, security branch officers “Spyker” van Wyk and Dirk Genis, had died.
“We await the upcoming inquest judgment with a profound sense of hope and anticipation. We hope this judgment will bring more than a legal decision, it is a promise of closure for the grieving Haron family who have long sought answers and justice.
“As we look forward to the verdict, we remain committed to the pursuit of truth, justice, and the honouring of the imam’s legacy. May the judgment bring solace to the family and inspire positive change in our society.”
The imam’s youngest daughter, Fatima Haron-Masoet said: “It’s not going to give us complete closure, but it’s going to give us the satisfaction that the judgment of the 1970s inquest will be overturned, if that is in our favour, and that the records are going to be set straight.
“We just want to give hope to those family-victims and survivors whose matters have never been dealt with, their cases never been investigated. The NPA hasn’t done much in terms of making sure that these cases are heard. There are so many unresolved cases.”