Fifty-five years on, Ahmed Timol is still waiting for justice
Ahmed Timol’s death in police custody was ruled a suicide in 1972 and a prima facie murder in 2017. Yet political interference and prosecutorial delay meant no one was tried for his death.
Fifty-five years after his death, Ahmed Timol remains without justice. In 1971, the police claimed he committed suicide by jumping from a tenth-floor window at Johannesburg's Security Branch headquarters. However, the truth was far from that. Days before Timol's death, he and another man were stopped at a roadblock and found with ANC and SACP literature in their car.
His family alleges they were tortured after their return home. Essop died from severe injuries, and Timol was found with similar injuries, dragged by officers. The official story failed to mention Timol's injuries. The courts dismissed the murder, deeming it a "timid retreat." It took 46 years for a court to confirm the truth. Timol's family fought for justice, and in 2017, the inquest was reopened, ruling that Timol was pushed from the window with intent to kill.
The police officer involved, Joao Rodrigues, was implicated in the cover-up and should be investigated. Despite the TRC finding several policemen responsible, none sought amnesty. The NPA's delays were due to political interference, and the Supreme Court of Appeal condemned the lack of prosecution as disdain for the Constitution and victims.
The killers remained unpunished, protected by apartheid and the silence of the new democracy. Ahmed Timol's killers were never held accountable, leaving the "suicide" in quotation marks as the only lie in this story.
Written by urgent.news from IOL's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
