South Africa re-opens apartheid-era case of activist's death


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JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African court has re-opened an inquiry into the 1971 death of an anti-apartheid activist whose family believes he was tortured and killed by police and did not commit suicide by jumping from a 10th-floor window as authorities said at the time.

Ahmed Timol, a member of the South African Communist Party, died after his arrest and transfer to John Vorster Square, a notorious police station in Johannesburg where opponents of white minority rule were often held without trial and tortured. Some died there.

Timol's family says they don't know who exactly is responsible for his death but want to correct the official record and asked for an inquest after conducting their own investigation.

On Tuesday, lawyers visited the police station — since renamed — where Timol died.

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