54
which had been brought against Mr Egal and the nature of the court before which he was tried.
In January 1975 10 men were executed by firing squad in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, after having been found guilty in the National Security Court of "exploiting religion to create national disunity and subverting state authority”. They were alleged to have mounted a campaign of "false propaganda" against a decision earlier in the month by the Supreme Revolutionary Council to grant equal rights to women in Somalia, which is a predominantly Islamic country. AI immediately cabled its protest at these shootings to President Siad Barre, denouncing the executions as a flagrant violation of the right to life clause of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
South Africa
Despite the leading role of the South African government in bringing about renewed negotiations for the settlement of the Rhodesian issue and some diminution of inter-racial tension in southern Africa as a whole, 1974-75 has seen little improvement in the treatment of opponents of apartheid within the Republic of South Africa itself.
Thirteen young supporters of the "black consciousness" movement in South Africa were, as of this writing (May 1975), awaiting trial under the notorious Terrorism Act, which carries a minimum mandatory sentence of 5 years' imprison- ment upon conviction and a maximum sentence of death. More than 20 other members of the South African Students' Organization (SASO) and the Black Peoples' Convention (BPC), the organizations which have fostered the concepts of black consciousness and self-reliance in South Africa, remain in detention in Pretoria with no knowledge of whether they are to be charged also or eventually released.
All of these people were arrested after the banning of a pro-FRELIMO (the liberation movement in Mozambique) rally which had been organized by SASO and BPC and which was scheduled to take place in Durban on 25 Septem- ber 1974, the 10th anniversary of the start of the FRELIMO-led war for the liberation of Mozambique. A crowd which gathered at the place of the proposed rally in defiance of the government's ban was forcibly dispersed by the police and a number of persons were charged with riotous assembly.
Thereafter, a series of raids was launched throughout the Republic on the homes of known supporters of the "black consciousness” movement, during the course of which most of the leaders were detained or driven into exile in Botswa- na. Several of those still uncharged have now been detained for more than seven months and many allegations of torture and ill-treatment have been made. Legal action on behalf of five detainees to restrain the security police from further as- saulting or unlawfully interrogating them failed when it came before the Supreme Court in November 1974. Amnesty International has taken up the cases of all those who have been detained and is planning to send an observer to the trial. In October 1974, the International Secretariat cabled South African Prime Minister John Vorster urging him to exercise clemency in the case of Winnie Mandela, wife of African nationalist leader Nelson Mandela, who is currently ser- ving a life sentence on Robben Island. Mrs Mandela, together with Peter Magubane,
Page 135Page 136