(From Swazi Media Commentary 10 May 2010 www.swazimedia.blogspot.com)
News about the death in jail of Sipho
Jele has travelled around the world. The following
report was originally published in the Danish newspaper Arbejderen (The
Worker). Thanks to Peter at Africa
Contact in Denmark
for the translation into English.
SOURCE
Killed because of a
T-shirt
10 May 2010
Political activist, Sipho Stephen Jele, was arrested on May-day
because he wore an opposition
party PUDEMO t-shirt. Now he has been murdered by police.
Another political prisoner
has apparently been killed by police in the kingdom of Swaziland in
southern Africa.Tuesday morning a fellow prisoner in Sidvwashini prison
found the body of 35-year-old Sipho Stephen Jele hanging from a rafter
in the toilet, according to the Times of Swaziland.
He was arrested on 1 May in Manzini, allegedly for having worn a
t-shirt with a PUDEMO logo at an event at the Salesians of Don Bosco Sports
Ground.PUDEMO (People's United
Democratic Movement) is the country's largest illegal
movement and opponent of the monarchy.The police raided Sipho Stephen
Jeles home in Ncabaneni to look for his PUDEMO membership card, after
which he was taken into custody.
The Times of Swaziland have spoken to the aunt of the deceased,
Julie Jele, who last saw him Saturday, in handcuffs.
- I need an explanation from the police about how my nephew died.
They found no gun or other dangerous weapon during the search, she said.
The following day, after Jele had been found dead , police told
Sipho’s grandmother that he had committed suicide, after which they
tried to force Sipho’s family to bury him – probably to avoid an
autopsy, said Danish organization, Africa Contact.The organisation has
been in contact with a PUDEMO-representative, who denies the police’s
allegation of suicide.
- The explanation that the police has given is absolutely untrue. We
know that it does not fit, he said to Africa Contact.
According to the Pudemo representative, this occurrence is
unfortunately only one of many examples of the imaginative explanations
for deaths in police custody in Swaziland.
Sipho Stephen Jele, who had previously worked in Swaziland’s only
pulp factory Usuthu Pulp, was in the process of taking a degree in
engineering. He had previously been charged with treason in a trial in
2006, but was fully acquitted.
Prime Minister
Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini said in a press release,
reported in the Times of Swaziland yesterday, that there will be an
inquest into the death of Jele.
“I wish to state that His Majesty’s Government is taking the matter
seriously since this involves the death of a person who was in lawful
custody”.
Link
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2010/05/danish-report-on-activist-killing.html
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