Peter Hain Fund
Sir: The recent police raids in South Africa, the continued persecution of clergy and laymen there, and this week's exposure of South African Special Branch activity in this country, make the private prosecution of Peter Hain that much more disturbing. Mr Hain has now been committed for trial at the Old Bailey on four conspiracy charges arising out of the campaign against apartheid in sport led by the Stop the '70 movement.
These private proceedings are backed financially and otherwise by South African rugby and political interests (including £3,000 subscribed by the SA Rugby Board alone) as well as the Monday Club and the Society for Individual Freedom in this country.
We have decided to establish the Peter HaM Fund to ensure that Mr Hain's defence will not be limited at all by dependence on legal aid, and to provide general information on the background to the trial. We feel sure you will agree that it was a great triumph for non-racialism when the '70 tour was stopped, and that it would not be right if financial penalties were to fall on Mr Hain in particular, when so many others were associated with him in his campaign. Above all, if this action were to succeed, a judicial precedent would have been created that may have serious implications for any future nonviolent action on a moral issue.
A vebury Nadir Dinshaw High Elms Farm, Downe, Orpington, Kent
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