Imam Haron’s family edges closer to truth and justice in reopened inquest
The State and family pointed to the responsibility of the apartheid government in Haron’s death and implicated suspects in his torture and murder.
More than 50 years after the 1970 inquest found that no one could be blamed for Imam Abdullah Haron’s death in police custody, his family edges closer to justice and having the truth of what happened during the 123 days he spent in detention stand as the official record.
READ: As it happened: Imam Haron Inquest closing arguments – Day 2
BOTH PARTIES SING FROM SAME HYMN BOOK IN HARON INQUEST CLOSING ARGUMENTS: STATE
The reopened inquest was held over eight days before Judge Daniel Thulare in the Cape Town High Court in November 2022, and closing arguments were heard in the same court on 24 and 25 April 2023.
State Prosecutor Advocate Lifa Matyobeni summed it up best on Tuesday afternoon when he said the State and family –represented by Webber Wentzel’s pro-bono unit – were singing from the same hymn book.
READ: Imam Haron Inquest: Apartheid-era cop says he didn’t know the security branch tortured people
Among the false claims was his denial of any knowledge that the Security Branch tortured and abused political detainees and that he was unaware Haron had been abused until he saw sketches of his body 50 years later.
Burger also said the Imam seemed healthy and had no complaints about an hour before he was found dead in his Maitland Police Station cell.
Varney said the family does not want Burger to be prosecuted for perjury as he was among the youngest and lowest-ranking officers at the police station in 1969. “He was a bit player with no real decision-making authority.”
READ: Imam Haron Inquest: Family lawyers say apartheid cop was an evasive witness
The Haron family do not want to see him prosecuted because the people who should be facing justice are dead, and prosecuting Burger will not bring them any peace.
“During the month of Ramadan, adherents ask for and preach forgiveness. Burger has his own conscience to live with in his advanced age,” said the family.
The family’s legal representatives also recommended that Doctors Viviviers and Gosling and the Chief State Pathologist for Cape Town, Dr Schwar disregarded the Hippocratic Oath in dealing with Haron and asked the court to refer the relevant parts of the inquest record to the medical council for consideration as to whether their names should be posthumously struck from the roll of medical professionals.
READ: Imam Haron Inquest: Sustained assault the root cause of ‘Imam’s demise’ – court hears
The family seeks the same punishment for Additional Magistrate JSP Kuhn, who oversaw the 1970 inquest, and State Prosecutor JS van Graan.
“We have demonstrated in these proceedings that the Imam was subjected to vicious and unrelenting torture during his 123 days in detention.
“After the most brutal period of abuse inflicted during the three-day extraction, he was specifically denied medical treatment, to avoid the obvious signs of his torture from being detected.
“Those involved in the torture, and who decided to deny him medical attention, murdered the Imam. We have asked this Honourable Court to make that finding,” said Varney in part of his conclusion.
Judge Thulare reserved judgement.