The press release says on April 27, 1984, the South African State President Marais Viljoen ordered the Minister of Justice to rescind the Namibian Supreme Court's jurisdiction to hear an application for the release of 37 Namibian survivors of a May 1978 military attack by the South African Defense Forces (SADF) on the Cassinga refugee camp some 150 miles inside Angola. The press release says during that invasion into Angola by South African bombers and paratroopers, more than 600 Namibian refugees were killed, over half of whom were women and children, and some 120 refugees were forcibly abducted from Angola and taken to a South African military camp near Mariental, Namibia; the "Cassinga...
The press release says on April 27, 1984, the South African State President Marais Viljoen ordered the Minister of Justice to rescind the Namibian Supreme Court's jurisdiction to hear an application for the release of 37 Namibian survivors of a May 1978 military attack by the South African Defense Forces (SADF) on the Cassinga refugee camp some 150 miles inside Angola. The press release says during that invasion into Angola by South African bombers and paratroopers, more than 600 Namibian refugees were killed, over half of whom were women and children, and some 120 refugees were forcibly abducted from Angola and taken to a South African military camp near Mariental, Namibia; the "Cassinga captives" have been held illegally and incommunicado at the Mariental camp for six years. The press release says an urgent application filed on March 5, 1984 in the Supreme Court of Namibia (South West Africa) charged that at least 100 of the survivors of that attack have been held illegally and incommunicado for at least six years by the SADF at the Mariental camp. The press release says the application, which was in a nature of a writ of habeas corpus for the release of the detainees, was financed by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and filed by correspondent attorneys' at the Namibian law firm of Lorentz and Bone. The press release says the action was brought against the South African Minister of Defense, General Magnus Malan; the Administrator-General of South West Africa (Namibia), Dr. Willie van Niekerk; the General Officer Commanding the South West Africa (Namibia) Territory Forces; and the commander of the Mariental military camp, Major G.J. Coetzee. The press release says South Africa initially denied the existence of the detainees, but as a result of international pressure conceded it was holding survivors of the raid on Cassinga. The press release says the South African authorities claim that the detainees are being held under the authority of Proclamation AG 9, a security regulation that permits indefinite incommunicado detention without charge or trial of persons. The press release asks people to send cables or telegrams to the South African State President Marais Viljoen and to U.S. Secretary of George State Shultz regarding the order. The press release discusses the South Africa's Defense Act No. 44 of 1957, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and torture. The press release says contact Gay J. McDougall, Director, Southern Africa Project.
