Joao Rodrigues must be charged with murder, says family of Ahmed Timol
Former police office Joao Rodrigues, present at the suspicious death of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol in 1971, should be charged with murder, the High Court in Pretoria heard on Wednesday, as the official version of events came under harsh scrutiny. Rodrigues, a former member of the feared security police, was allegedly the last officer to have been with Timol before Timol plunged to his death from the 10th floor of John Vorster Square, Johannesburg’s police headquarters. Rodrigues had faced three days of intensive questioning at the inquest into Timol’s death, and at times gave contradictory accounts of the incident that took place 46 years ago. "We will be submitting to this court that the court recommend … that you be charged with perjury [and] the murder of Ahmed Timol," said lawyer Howard Varney, for the Timol family. Rodrigues has strenuously denied harming Timol or any involvement in his death, telling both the new inquest and an inquest in 1972 that Timol died by jumpi...
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