The World : Reprieve for ‘Sharpeville 6’
South African Justice Minister Hendrik J. Coetsee indefinitely stayed the execution of the “Sharpeville Six” while appeal judges weigh a last-chance defense plea to reopen their trial. Coetsee said the five black men and one black woman convicted in the 1984 murder of a local black township official must “be afforded the opportunity of exhausting the remedies which the law offers.” Lawyers for the six held on death row since their Dec. 13, 1985, conviction claim a state witness gave tainted evidence under police duress. The case has sparked pleas for clemency in South Africa and Western threats of diplomatic retaliation if the execution is carried out.
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