In response to the guilty verdict on the coffin assault case by the Middleburg High Court on Friday, Amnesty International South Africa Executive Director Shenilla Mohamed said:
“This hideous case lays bare the discrimination that still runs deep in South African society. The fact that the whole grotesque episode was captured on video and then posted to social media suggests that the perpetrators felt little concern that they would face justice.
“There is no place for racism or discrimination in any society, and this terrible case must spur the government to finalize the Hate Crimes legislation in order to deal decisively with incidents of discrimination.”
Background
Two men were arrested after forcing Victor Mlotshwa into a coffin, and threatening to pour petrol over him in August 2016.
They were charged with kidnapping, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and attempted murder and were put on trial at the Delmas regional court in Mpumalanga province.
Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 7 million people who take injustice personally. We are campaigning for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all.
We are funded by members and people like you. We are independent of any political ideology, economic interest or religion. No government is beyond scrutiny. No situation is beyond hope.
Few would have predicted when we started that torturers would become international outlaws. That most countries would abolish the death penalty. And seemingly untouchable dictators would be made to answer for their crimes.
In 1961, British lawyer Peter Benenson was outraged when two Portuguese students were jailed just for raising a toast to freedom. He wrote an article in The Observer newspaper and launched a campaign that provoked an incredible response. Reprinted in newspapers across the world, his call to action sparked the idea that people everywhere can unite in solidarity for justice and freedom.
This inspiring moment didn’t just give birth to an extraordinary movement, it was the start of extraordinary social change.
Only when the last prisoner of conscience has been freed, when the last torture chamber has been closed, when the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a reality for the world’s people, will our work be done.
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