Political prisoners

The AAM held a 24-hour vigil outside South Africa House on 1–2 August 1971 to protest against the trials of Rev Gonville ffrench-Beytagh, Anglican Dean of Johannesburg, and 14 members of the South African Unity Movement. All the accused told the court they had been tortured. Thirteen of the Unity Movement members were found guilty of offences under the Terrorism Act and sentenced to prison terms on Robben Island. At the same time, the Dean of Johannesburg was charged under the Terrorism Act with helping the families of political prisoners. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment, but later released on appeal. In the photo is Canon John Collins, first Chairman of the Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa.

This protester was one of a group of around 30 people who infiltrated the South African Embassy in London to protest against the death of Ahmed Timol. Timol was killed in detention by South African security police on 27 October 1971. His death provoked widespread protests in Britain. He was a former teacher and British teaching unions joined the protests. Ahmed Timol was the 20th political detainee known to have died in police custody.

Hull University Students Union appointed South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) leader Hermann Toivo ja Toivo as its Honorary Vice-President in the early 1970s. Toivo was serving a 20-year prison sentence on Robben Island.

South African lawyer Joel Carlson exposed the sham of South Africa’s legal system at a meeting at University College, London on 31 May 1973. Also on the platform were Labour MP Michael Foot (left), who said the Labour Party was considering calling for an end to new British investment in South Africa, and the Chair and Hon. Secretary of the AAM, John Ennals and Abdul Minty.

Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS) was a coalition that worked for the release of political prisoners in Southern Africa. Its founding conference, attended by 200 people on 8 December 1973, split into workshops like the one in the photograph addressed by former political prisoner Hugh Lewin. The conference set up a campaign that brought together the AAM, International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF), National Union of Students, and the Ruskin and AUEW (TASS) Kitson Committees. For the next 20 years SATIS worked on behalf of Southern African political prisoners and for the release of all those detained without trial. In the 1980s it led campaigns to save the lives of political activists sentenced to death by the apartheid government.

Programme for the founding conference of Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS), held on 8 December 1973. SATIS was a coalition that worked for the release of political prisoners in all the white-dominated countries of Southern Africa. It campaigned on behalf of prisoners for the next 20 years and in the 1980s led campaigns to save the lives of political activists sentenced to death by the apartheid government.

Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS) was a coalition that worked for the release of political prisoners in Southern Africa. Two hundred people attended its founding conference on 8 December 1973. They set up a campaign that brought together the AAM, IDAF, National Union of Students and the Ruskin and AUEW (TASS) Kitson Committees. For the next 20 years SATIS worked on behalf of political prisoners and for the release of all those detained without trial. In the 1980s it led campaigns to save the lives of political activists sentenced to death by the apartheid government.

Poster produced by Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS) soon after its launch on 8 December 1973. SATIS was set up by the AAM, International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF), National Union of Students, the AUEW (TASS) and Ruskin Kitson Committees and London Trades Council. It campaigned on behalf of political prisoners throughout Southern Africa for the following 20 years.