4 DECEMBER 1964, Page 12

SIR,—In your timely leading article on the now estab- lished

practice of torture of political offenders in South Africa, you refer to the tragic case of John Harris who was sentenced to death for the explosion at Johannesburg station. It may not be fully reahsed in this country what political use the South African Government has made of this event. It has been used to justify the 'ninety-day' detention without trial and the associated use of torture, and to consolidate white opinion behind the ruling Nationalist Party. No single event has been of greater internal advantage to the Verwoerd regime.

So much that is happening in South Africa today parallels the development of Nazi Germany that it is not difficult to see the station bomb as South Africa's Reichstag fire and John Harris as South Africa's van der Lubbe. Although an appeal in the case is pending, it would not be amiss to comment that no English court could have convicted John Harris on the evi- dence presented. His 'confession' was obtained while under ninety-day detention without access to legal or any other representation. Evidence of the brutal treat- ment meted cut to him was not considered relevant by the judge (as is customary now in such cases). The fact that photographs of Harris appeared in the press alongside pictures of the effects of the bomb the day after the explosion did not render the State evidence of identification inadmissible. No weight was attached to the evidence of three warning telephone calls, which were apparently ignored by the police.

It should also not be forgotten that Harris had been under surveillance by the security police and had been banned and persecuted for months for his activities as chairman of SANROC, the body responsible for the expulsion of South Africa from the Olympic Games.

The sentence on Harris can thus be seen as an act of revenge on the part of white South Africd. If Harris was guilty as charged, it is clear that his guilt is shared, shared by the police, shared by the courts, shared by white Sotith Africa and shared ultimately by all who enable the cancer of apartheid to thrive.

14 Granville Place, Finchley, N12

BASIL STEIN