Political prisoners

Demonstrators told President de Klerk he must honour his promise to free all political prisoners by the 30 April deadline agreed with the ANC, as he arrived for a reception at the South African Embassy in April 1991.

The South African government failed to honour the agreement it signed with the ANC in August 1990 to release all political prisoners, and at least 284 were still in prison in June 1991. The AAM campaigned to ensure that the prisoners were not forgotten and for freedom for all political prisoners.

Leaflet publicising a public meeting in April 1991 highlighting the continued imprisonment and detention of political prisoners in South Africa.

The AAM Women’s Committee campaigned to ensure that individual women political prisoners were not forgotten. This leaflet gave details of the sentences of six women prisoners and asked people to write to the South African ambassador in London, the British Foreign Secretary and the British Red Cross calling for their release.

This T-shirt was produced in several colours, including turquoise and deep pink.

South Africa imprisoned large numbers of Africans for offences such as failing to carry their pass. This leaflet argued that all South African prisoners convicted under apartheid laws were political prisoners.

Sir Geoffrey Bindman is a lawyer and was Chair of Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS ). SATIS publicised political trials, called for the release of those detained without trial and mobilised public opinion against the hanging of political prisoners.It campaigned for the release of thousands of anti-apartheid activists, including many children, detained under the States of Emergency imposed in the mid-1980s.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of the Forward to Freedom AAM history project in 2013.

Sir Geoffrey Bindman is a lawyer and was Chair of Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS ). SATIS publicised political trials, called for the release of those detained without trial and mobilised public opinion against the hanging of political prisoners.It campaigned for the release of thousands of anti-apartheid activists, including many children, detained under the States of Emergency imposed in the mid-1980s.

In this clip Sir Geoffrey describes his experience of investigating the legal aspects of apartheid and visiting political prisoners in South Africa.