Durban magistrate rules the death of Dr Haffejee accidental

A Durban magistrate ruled that no one was to blame for the death of a young dentist, Dr. Hoosen Haffejee, who died in police custody in August 1977. It was ruled that he had committed suicide. The death of Dr Hoosen Mia Haffejee while in police detention on 2 August 1977 was symptomatic of the brutality employed by the security police during Apartheid. Dr Haffejee was arrested by the police on suspicion of being a trained saboteur and of plotting to overthrow the state. According to police witnesses, Dr Haffejee became uncooperative while being questioned by the police regarding his involvement in activities to overthrow the state. According to the officers on duty on the night of his death, they discovered his apparent suicide at about four in the morning on 3 August 1977. An inquest into his death conducted during February 1978 concluded that he had committed suicide. On the 15 March 1978 the magistrate in charge of the investigation ruled that Dr Haffejee's death was due to suicide. The family of Dr Haffejee believe that he was murdered in detention. His body showed evidence of torture and in a newspaper report in 2016 his brother Ismail said that "Hoosen had been found in a seated position, against the cell’s grille, with his pants wrapped tightly around his neck. His body was also found with numerous bruises and injuries." He added that “It is virtually impossible to hang from that position.” Dr David Hobson Biggs, who was commissioned by the family to do a private autopsy commented at the time “I left the examination with many questions I could not answer." In the 2016 report the family commented that although they attended the hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Durban, they were still "no closer to the truth".