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314:. He was the first political detainee to die in Security Branch custody at John Vorster Square. The police claimed that he had jumped from a window, which his family disputed in the press. His death sparked nationwide shock, anger and demands for an inquiry. Support for such an inquiry came from a broad spectrum of the South African population that included the
411:
145:. Police claimed, and an official inquest confirmed, that Timol had committed suicide by jumping out the window. The claim was widely disbelieved in anti-apartheid circles, and in the movement Timol's death became symbolic of the broader phenomenon of deaths in police custody, as well as of the abuses and dishonesty of the
371:
was part of the team representing Timol's family, as he had been in the original 1972 inquest. In
October 2017, the second inquest found that Timol had been pushed out the window or off the roof by members of the Security Branch. The inquest also heard evidence that Timol had been tortured during his
325:
An official inquest in 1972 ruled that his death had been a suicide. The presiding magistrate suggested that Timol had killed himself after disclosing sensitive information during interrogation, because he feared imprisonment, and because the SACP had instructed its members to kill themselves before
212:
After working as a clerk for some years, Timol received a scholarship from the
Kholvad Madressa in Surat to pursue a teaching course at the Johannesburg Training Institute for Indian Teachers, the only institution of higher education for Indians in the Transvaal at the time. He was Vice-Chairman of
333:(TRC), and the TRC ultimately assigned responsibility for Timol's death to several policemen. It also found that "the inquest magistrate's failure to hold the police responsible for Ahmed Timol's death contributed to a culture of impunity that led to further gross human rights violations."
372:
detention, including from Salim Essop, who had been detained and tortured alongside Timol but whose testimony had been excluded from the original inquest. The presiding Judge said that the officers holding Timol in custody were collectively responsible for his death, and that there was a
347:
of exorcism through violence. It was their own neurosis that spoke through every blow, because in him our revolutionary spirit was made flesh and they simply could not believe it. He was and remained, even after his death, the spectre that was haunting South Africa.
297:
In
October 1971, aged 29, Timol was arrested at a roadblock. According to the police, officers founded banned ANC and SACP literature, as well as copies of secret communication correspondence, in the boot of the car he was travelling in. He was detained under the
338:
He was himself the light in a darkening room... The apartheid regime had banned us a decade earlier and had brutally set out to break and torture our scattered comrades. They believed that they had broken the back of the underground. And then they found Ahmed.
289:(MK), the paramilitary wing of the ANC, though both had been banned in 1960. His political work included recruitment for the ANC, MK and SACP, producing and distributing pamphlets, and procuring equipment for underground structures.
382:
against the two officers who had interrogated Timol that day, both of whom had died years earlier. One surviving officer, Joao
Rodrigues, died in September 2021 while facing a murder charge for Timol's death.
172:
descent. Timol was one of six children, with two sisters, Zubeida and Aysha, and three brothers, Ismail, Mohammed and Haroon. His father, a shopkeeper, came to South Africa in 1918, at the age of 12, from the
282:, then a communist, later South African state president. After completing his training, Timol returned to London and received additional training for four weeks from Jack Hodgson, an SACP member in exile.
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306:
and two others, all of whom later said that they had been severely tortured in custody. He died on 27 October, five days after his arrest, from injuries sustained when he fell from the tenth floor of
152:
In 2017, the inquest into Timol's death was reopened. It found that Timol had been tortured in custody and had fallen from the window because he was pushed by police officers, not because he jumped.
322:, the Coloured Labour Party, and the Indian Congresses. In Durban, a packed meeting attended by people of all races called for a national day of mourning, which was observed on 10 November 1971.
1127:
1117:
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244:, an African National Congress (ANC) stalwart. In April 1967, Timol went to London, where he lived with the Pahads. He took up a teaching post at the Immigration School at
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543:"Digital Visual Activism: Photography and the Re-Opening of the Unresolved Truth and Reconciliation Commission Cases in Post-Apartheid South Africa"
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The Chris Van Wyk poem "In
Detention" (1979) is a satire of the explanations given to cover up Timol's Death
407:(Silver) in 2009,"for his excellent contribution and selfless sacrifice in the struggle against apartheid."
1021:
880:
430:(2015), directed by Enver Samuel and edited by Nikki Comninos, is a documentary about Timol. The follow-up
935:
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61:
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In
February 1970, Timol returned to Roodepoort and resumed teaching. He was active in the SACP and in
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the
Student Representative Council from 1962 to 1963, and the SRC became an affiliate of the
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After teaching for some time at a school in
Roodepoort, in 1966 Timol left South Africa for
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137:. He died at the age of 29 from injuries sustained when he fell from the top floor of
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A legacy of liberation Thabo Mbeki and the future of the South
African dream
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146:
204:
32:
605:"South Africa judge rules police murdered anti-apartheid activist in 1971"
434:(2018), also directed by Samuel, focuses on the reopening of the inquest.
410:
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174:
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53:
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245:
460:"Timol Inquest: He was murdered but culprits are dead, court rules"
367:
The inquest was reopened in 2017 at the request of Timol's family.
266:. The two came close to marrying, but Timol left for Moscow in the
193:
Indian High School, and became friends at school with the brothers
409:
221:
203:
182:
178:
248:, which provided him with funds, became an active member of the
225:
201:, both of whom would become prominent anti-apartheid activists.
278:
ideology, along with three fellow South Africans, one of them
855:"Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Volume 3"
329:
Timol's family and others testified about his death at the
395:
attended a ceremony at which Azaadville Second School in
168:(now part of Mpumalanga), into a large Muslim family of
1158:
People killed in South African intelligence operations
789:(1st ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p.
830:(1st ed.). Pretoria: Unisa Press. p. 440.
879:Crouse, Gabriel; Myburgh, James (23 October 2017).
113:
102:
94:
68:
39:
23:
782:
270:in 1969, as he had been selected to study at the
16:South African anti-apartheid activist (1941–1971)
962:"Ahmed Timol murder accused Joao Rodrigues dies"
824:South African Democracy Education Trust (2006).
343:They performed upon his body a macabre dance, a
1128:South African people who died in prison custody
1044:"Presidency unveils National Orders recipients"
336:
756:"Human rights violations hearings: Hawa Timol"
228:. In Saudi Arabia, he met and was inspired by
1118:Muslim South African anti-apartheid activists
496:(in Afrikaans). Wits University. 22 June 1972
8:
1153:Members of the South African Communist Party
189:Youth Study Group while still a student at
129:(3 November 1941 – 27 October 1971) was an
432:Someone to Blame – The Ahmed Timol Inquest
31:
20:
1098:People from Msukaligwa Local Municipality
907:"Timol judgment: Bizo's tears of closure"
568:
558:
252:and met Ruth Longoni, who worked for the
1163:Deaths in police custody in South Africa
1113:South African people of Gujarati descent
215:National Union of South African Students
701:"Timol, a proponent of equal education"
443:
414:Charcoal portrait of Ahmed Timol by Dr
1123:South African anti-apartheid activists
1103:South African people of Indian descent
929:
927:
849:
847:
827:The road to democracy in South Africa
750:
748:
7:
1012:Saeed, Abdullah (17 December 2009).
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598:
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484:
482:
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453:
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449:
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1014:"Letter: Honouring a struggle hero"
760:Truth and Reconciliation Commission
399:was renamed after Timol. President
331:Truth and Reconciliation Commission
960:Mabuza, Ernet (7 September 2021).
934:Myburgh, James (17 October 2017).
494:Historical Papers Research Archive
458:Nicolson, Greg (12 October 2017).
320:South African Students Association
318:(UP), various churches, the black
185:. Timol joined a semi-clandestine
14:
905:Mabena, Sipho (12 October 2017).
699:Vadi, Zaakira (26 October 2015).
987:"School named after Ahmed Timol"
603:Burke, Jason (12 October 2017).
264:Communist Party of Great Britain
516:"Heroes of yesterday and today"
236:and later the Chairman of the
1:
1133:South African revolutionaries
560:10.1080/17514517.2021.1927370
541:Thomas, Kylie (3 July 2021).
403:posthumously awarded him the
238:South African Communist Party
135:South African Communist Party
1173:Assassinated revolutionaries
679:South African History Online
391:On 29 March 1999, President
133:activist in the underground
881:"Salim Essop's ordeal (II)"
725:Gee, Frank (18 June 2021).
1189:
936:"The Ahmed Timol case (I)"
643:Timol: A Quest for Justice
272:International Lenin School
250:National Union of Teachers
160:Timol was born in 1941 in
234:Transvaal Indian Congress
30:
1148:South African socialists
1048:South African Government
1138:South African educators
991:The Mail & Guardian
781:Gevisser, Mark (2009).
731:. Dorrance Publishing.
547:Photography and Culture
1143:South African Marxists
640:Cajee, Imtiaz (2005).
418:
350:
209:
208:Timol as a young adult
1108:South African Muslims
413:
376:case of murder under
326:betraying the party.
300:Terrorism Act of 1967
207:
62:Union of South Africa
812:ahmed timol, moscow.
274:. He was trained in
490:"Inquest judgement"
308:John Vorster Square
258:, a journal run by
139:John Vorster Square
80:John Vorster Square
1024:on 9 November 2014
522:. 12 December 2009
419:
310:police station in
210:
141:police station in
1168:Muslim socialists
1050:. 2 December 2009
738:978-1-64804-943-9
653:978-1-919855-40-0
428:Indians Can't Fly
287:Umkhonto we Sizwe
260:Rajani Palme Dutt
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405:Order of Luthuli
379:dolus eventualis
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276:Marxist-Leninist
232:, leader of the
118:Order of Luthuli
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762:. 30 April 1996
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728:Justice for All
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72:27 October 1971
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1052:. Retrieved
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1026:. Retrieved
1022:the original
1017:
1007:
995:. Retrieved
990:
981:
969:. Retrieved
966:Sunday Times
965:
955:
943:. Retrieved
939:
914:. Retrieved
911:Sunday Times
910:
900:
888:. Retrieved
884:
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862:. Retrieved
858:
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806:28 September
804:. Retrieved
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764:. Retrieved
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708:. Retrieved
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682:. Retrieved
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642:
620:. Retrieved
609:The Guardian
608:
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524:. Retrieved
519:
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498:. Retrieved
493:
467:. Retrieved
463:
431:
427:
425:
422:In the media
390:
377:
373:
369:George Bizos
366:
363:2017 inquest
351:
344:
340:
337:
328:
324:
316:United Party
312:Johannesburg
296:
284:
268:Soviet Union
253:
240:(SACP), and
219:
211:
191:Johannesburg
177:district of
159:
151:
143:Johannesburg
126:
125:
88:South Africa
84:Johannesburg
74:(1971-10-27)
18:
1093:1971 deaths
1088:1941 births
1054:28 November
997:28 November
971:28 November
945:28 November
940:Politicsweb
916:28 November
890:28 November
885:Politicsweb
864:28 November
766:28 November
710:28 November
570:10468/14201
526:28 November
500:28 November
469:28 November
397:Krugersdorp
374:prima facie
355:Thabo Mbeki
304:Amina Desai
280:Thabo Mbeki
230:Yusuf Dadoo
199:Essop Pahad
181:in western
127:Ahmed Timol
25:Ahmed Timol
1082:Categories
1028:12 October
837:1868884066
622:12 October
438:References
401:Jacob Zuma
195:Aziz Pahad
187:Roodepoort
95:Occupation
46:1941-11-03
684:28 August
617:0261-3077
587:237518037
579:1751-4517
341:Mayibuye!
217:in 1963.
166:Transvaal
156:Biography
147:apartheid
58:Transvaal
357:on Timol
224:for the
170:Gujarati
120:(silver)
109:activism
1018:Witness
646:. STE.
262:of the
175:Kholvad
162:Breyten
149:state.
114:Honours
98:Teacher
54:Breyten
834:
797:
735:
650:
615:
585:
577:
387:Legacy
246:Slough
583:S2CID
302:with
293:Death
222:Mecca
183:India
179:Surat
1056:2021
1030:2017
999:2021
973:2021
947:2021
918:2021
892:2021
866:2021
859:SABC
832:ISBN
808:2013
795:ISBN
768:2021
733:ISBN
712:2021
686:2013
648:ISBN
624:2017
613:ISSN
575:ISSN
528:2021
502:2021
471:2021
226:Hajj
197:and
69:Died
40:Born
705:IOL
565:hdl
555:doi
1084::
1046:.
1016:.
989:.
964:.
938:.
926:^
909:.
883:.
857:.
846:^
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353:–
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48:)
44:(
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
