WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2009-03-04 Time: 11:00:02 Posted By: Jan
By Matthew Savides, Sinegugu Ndlovu, Nathi Olifant and Karyn Maughan
The release of convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik for medical reasons on Tuesday has set a precedent that the Justice for Prisoners and Detainees Trust will use to push for the release of other terminally ill prisoners.
News that Shaik had been paroled and taken to his Durban home by ambulance early on Tuesday was followed by an outcry from opposition political parties, and a variety of reactions from others.
The move was described as a “travesty of justice” by some people whose relatives had died of terminal illnesses while still in jail.
| ‘A person is only released from prison if they are gravely ill’ |
Trust director Derrick Mdluli welcomed Shaik’s release but said the parole board should have been balanced in its decision by also releasing other terminally ill prisoners. The trust would work with doctors to compile a list of prisoners who should also be released.
“Westville Prison has about 32 worse-off prisoners who’ve been sick for years and could die at any time,” he said. “Why are they still in prison if it’s that easy to get out because of high blood pressure and depression? This will open doors for us to push for their release. Shaik wasn’t even in his final stage of illness.”
The trust would go to court if it was not taken seriously. “Shaik’s the first person in this country to have spent his whole sentence outside prison. Other prisoners who’ve been sick for years will jump at this.”
The South African Prisoners’ Organisation for Human Rights was also happy with Shaik’s release. Its president, Golden Miles Bhudu, hoped it would encourage the Correctional Services Department to provide medical parole to other prisoners.
“There are about 2 500 inmates who died last year either because prison officials were negligent or did not make recommendations (for release). We hope they will consider the other sick inmates,” he said.
| ‘His body is shutting down’ |
Shaik, who was sentenced to 15 years in jail for fraud and corruption involving ANC president Jacob Zuma, spent his first day at home on Tuesday. He has served two years and four months of his sentence.
Outside his home, his brother, Yunus Shaik, said Shaik was “gravely ill”, heavily medicated and fast asleep. He had been brought home just before 8am in a private ambulance and wheeled into the house on a stretcher. By noon he had not left his bed.
Yunus added that he had not yet spoken to Shaik because he was sleeping. He said it would not be possible to see or speak to him.
Several cars, including a Mercedes-Benz driven by Shaik’s wife Zuleika, and others driven by Correctional Services officials, were seen driving in and out of the palm tree-lined driveway as a security guard outside the gate looked on. Last night about 15 cars were parked inside and outside Shaik’s property, where relatives were holding a dinner to welcome him home.
Yunus said doctors would visit Shaik to assess whether he needed full-time medical staff at home. He said friends, family and the doctors wanted to visit Shaik but were not prepared to do so while the media were camped outside his plush Morningside, Durban, home.
After speaking to reporters, Yunus asked them to leave and to respect the family’s privacy.
Asked how his brother was doing, he simply said: “He’s ill.”
Pressed on how ill, he responded: “Ill enough to be released. A person is only released from prison if they are gravely ill, and he is gravely ill.
“Most of the time he’s on heavy medication, so he’s fast asleep.”
His brother’s parole conditions were no different from those of other prisoners released in similar circumstances.
However, if Shaik’s condition improves, there is little chance he will return to prison.
Correctional Services spokesperson Manelisi Wolela said there was no provision in the Correctional Services Act that allowed for Shaik to be rearrested if his health improved.
“The only grounds on which (a paroled prisoner) could be imprisoned again would be if he or she reoffended or violated the conditions of his or her parole,” he said.
At the time of going to press on Tuesday, Wolela was unable to provide the parole conditions under which Shaik was released.
Although the act states that a prisoner can be released on medical parole only if he or she is diagnosed as “being in the final phase of any terminal disease or condition”, Wolela and Shaik’s attorney, Reeves Parsee, both declined to confirm whether Shaik was terminally ill or to identify the nature of his illness.
“It would be better if that information came from the person involved,” Wolela said.
Parsee said he was yet to speak to Shaik and could not comment on his health.
He would not say whether Shaik would seek a presidential pardon. Late last year, Mo and Yunus Shaik said he was “extremely ill” and publicly pleaded for him to be sent home on “some kind of parole”.
Yunus said at the time that his brother suffered from a genetic affliction of the vascular system, “from which both my mother and father died young”, which resulted in “severe uncontrollable hypertension”.
“His body is shutting down, it seems to me, and there’s not much that can be done about it. This thing is turning into a virtual death sentence,” he said.
He added that Shaik had lost the sight in one of his eyes because of his degenerating condition and problems with diabetes.
Dennis Bloem, the chairman of the parliamentary portfolio committee on correctional services and a vocal supporter of Shaik’s parole attempt, said Shaik’s application had been supported by “medical reports given by professional doctors”. He said the committee, which is in recess, might reconvene to discuss the Shaik parole issue “if need be”.
Submissions to the committee in September last year revealed that Shaik had cost the taxpayer R219 000 for his stay in hospital, but the bill could reach R3-million.