Retired cop concedes Imam was tortured

JOHANNES Burger is the last surviving police officer that interacted with Imam Abdullah Haron while the Imam was detained by the apartheid security police in 1969

Burger was responsible for the key of the cell at Maitland Police Station and his job was to let the Imam out for a walk every morning.

Giving testimony at the new inquest into the death in detention of Imam Haron, he said he spoke to the Imam on the day before he died.

Despite him apologising to the Haron family, his testimony was extremely evasive. He did, however, concede: ‘Hierdie man was gemartel’ (‘This man was tortured’) but said that it was only obvious to him many years later in 2020 when he was shown the autopsy report.

The advocate for the Haron family, Howard Varney, argued that given the evidence before the court it is obvious that the Imam was continuously tortured throughout his detention and his physical resistance progressively weakened until he died. According to him, if the police (including Burger) neglected to provide the Imam with medical attention it amounts to culpable homicide. However, if they deliberately and consciously prevented the Imam from obtaining medical attention it amounts to murder. The evidence currently at the disposal of the court points in the direction of the latter.