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Mandela lawyer dies in London

Publish date: 26 June 2017
Issue Number: 731
Diary: IBA Legalbrief Africa
Category: Obituary

The Nelson Mandela Foundation has paid tribute to the late Joel Joffe, a South African-born human rights lawyer who defended Mandela during the 1960s Rivonia trial at which the anti-apartheid leader was sentenced to life in prison, says a News24 report. Joffe, who died in London on Sunday last week at the age of 85, was part of the defence team for Mandela and other leaders of the movement against white minority rule who were tried for sabotage. He later moved to Britain and was made a member of the House of Lords. The Mandela Foundation expressed sadness at Joffe's death and noted he had helped many other people during his career. The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation notes Joffe was among ‘a class of defence attorneys who served SA and our liberation struggle with distinction’, says a TimesLIVE report. Joffe was the defence attorney of two Robben Islanders who have served on the Foundation’s board‚ Kathrada and Laloo Chiba‚ said the executive director of the foundation‚ Neeshan Balton. ‘It took a great deal of bravery and conviction to defend anti-apartheid activists in the 1960s‚ at a time when Mandela‚ Sisulu‚ Kathrada and others were regarded as ‘terrorists’ by the state. Lawyers such as Joffe‚ Arthur Chaskalson‚ Bram Fischer‚ George Bizos‚ Vernon Barrange‚ and others‚ have made an immense contribution‚ he said. Balton said it had to be remembered that it was because of the services rendered by lawyers like Joffe‚ that these leaders were spared the death sentence‚ and as history shows‚ would subsequently shape democratic South Africa.

– TimesLIVE

Full Fin24 report

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