Mailing seeking contributions to the work of The Africa Fund. The mailing says at least 2,000 people are being held in South African prisons without even the pretense of a charge or trial, most without any contact with family, lawyers or doctors; every week we receive fax messages from South Africa reporting that even more people have been picked up - among them children as young as 16. The mailing says since the beginning of this year hundreds of these political prisoners have gone on hunger strike, demanding release; they were desperate to connect in some way with the outside world, feeling that only international pressure could force the government to move. The mailing asks people to send...
Mailing seeking contributions to the work of The Africa Fund. The mailing says at least 2,000 people are being held in South African prisons without even the pretense of a charge or trial, most without any contact with family, lawyers or doctors; every week we receive fax messages from South Africa reporting that even more people have been picked up - among them children as young as 16. The mailing says since the beginning of this year hundreds of these political prisoners have gone on hunger strike, demanding release; they were desperate to connect in some way with the outside world, feeling that only international pressure could force the government to move. The mailing asks people to send a telegram to South African President P.W. Botha. The mailing discusses the Minister of Justice, religious leaders, union members, journalists, apartheid, arbitrary detention, death sentences, the Sharpeville Six, the U.S. press, human rights, and house arrest.
