Rodrigues 'must face full might of the law' - nephew of Ahmed Timol
The family of slain anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol have once again reiterated that they are against attempts by former member of apartheid's feared Security Branch, Joao Jan Rodrigues, to have the matter thrown out of court.
Addressing the media in the Gauteng High Court sitting in Palm Ridge on Monday, Imtiaz Cajee said his family was demanding that Rodrigues, 79, stands trial for the murder of his uncle.
Timol was arrested in 1971 at the age of 29. The police in the interrogation room at the time, including Rodrigues, said the young teacher and activist from Roodepoort threw himself out of a window from the 10th floor of John Vorster Square, now Johannesburg police station.
His family refused to believe this and, in 2017, the National Prosecuting Authority held another inquest, overturning the 1972 finding that he had died by suicide.
Rodrigues had in the meantime, left the police and carved out a new career for himself as a prolific author of books about nature and wildlife, running a website promoting his work, that has since been deactivated.